How the Light Bends
by MeltedJujubees
Summary: The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. (HIATUS- not abandoned!)
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I wrote this fic pre-lore change, so the League is in it. Italics at the beginning and end of each chapter are from the past.**_

* * *

 _Lux kept her right hand behind her back, her fingers tightened almost painfully around the cool, smooth metal of the baton she clutched. She used her free hand to knock on the door in front of her, two sharp raps on the dark wood that echoed in the room behind it. An answer wasn't long in coming; Garen pulled open the door with an expression that showed he thought it was their mother knocking, not Lux, and his face softened almost immediately. Still, she noted the exhaustion that lined his face, and the creases around his mouth that were exacerbated when he smiled._

" _Hey, sunshine. I was just about to come see you."_

 _The corner of Lux's mouth twitched upwards, and she pushed past him, rotating quickly so that she kept the baton out of his line of sight._

" _Hello."_

 _She put all the dignity that her 11 year old self could muster into that one word, satisfied with how proper and polite she sounded. Mother would have been pleased._

 _She noticed clearly the momentary falter in Garen's smile, like he didn't quite recognize her voice; she supposed he actually might not have, considering that this was the second time in four years that he had been home to visit, and so much had changed while he was away._

 _Which was why she was in his room right now._

 _She stationed herself in the middle of the room while Garen gave her a wary stare, uncomfortable at how silent and still she was being. He was used to a very energetic, very talkative Lux, and this prim quietness was disturbingly unnatural for her- or any 11 year old, for that matter._

" _I have something to show you."_

 _She let a small amount of her usual excitement creep into her voice, and Garen crossed his arms, sufficiently interested now, although his unease remained._

" _What's up, Lux?"_

 _She whipped out the baton from behind her back with no further delay, a nearly blinding smile gracing her features. Garen stared at it for a few long, drawn out seconds, appreciating the pretty metalwork and flowing designs, but otherwise didn't see what the big deal was; it was pretty, but simple, and he was sure she had much more interesting toys than that._

" _It's… pretty, lightbulb. Very nice."_

 _Her thin eyebrows knit together in a delicate frown, and she stuck out her bottom lip in a frustrated pout that still didn't manage to seem childish, despite the face it was on._

" _Don't be daft. Watch."_

 _Again, Garen was disturbed by the tone of Lux's voice, which was too sullen, too aged for someone so young, but he nodded for her to continue._

" _Okay."_

 _She twirled the baton between her fingers with all the grace and ease of an expert, although she couldn't have had it for too long; she certainly didn't have it when he left for his most recent deployment, and Mother hadn't mentioned it to him since then. A look of intense concentration crossed her features, increasing her frown, and she passed one end of the baton over her head, the air around the tip distorted into fractured rainbows._

 _Garen's mouth fell open._

 _Lux was well known for having very light and very shiny blonde hair that hung passed her shoulders (the only blonde in their family), which was, among other reasons, why Garen loved to call her sunshine and lightbulb and other related monikers. Now, after the pass of her baton, her tresses were a deep, deep chocolate brown, lusterless and flat. She smiled at the look on Garen's face that had moved far beyond disbelief, and spoke again in that disturbingly knowing voice._

" _I've learned a great deal while you were away."_

* * *

"Amelia!"

The loud bark of a voice rang clearly through the room, and Lux cringed with her fingers on the handle of the swinging door to the kitchen, plastering a neutral smile on her face before she turned around. The portly woman standing in the middle of the room had both of her meaty hands perched on her hips, and her mouth was curled into a snarl.

"Yes?"

Lux's voice sounded perfectly pleasant, which only served to make the other woman's expression sour even further; she stalked over to where she was standing, jabbing a finger at the tray Lux had in her hands.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Cutlery on the _left_ side. Miss Du Couteau is very specific."

They both stared at where the woman's finger was pointing (Marge, the maid of maids), and at the offending fork that was, indeed, on the wrong side of the tray. Lux carefully moved it to the other side, smiling so widely when Marge looked up that it hurt her cheeks.

"Better?"

Lux's sarcasm was not missed and definitely not appreciated, and Marge responded only with a grunt and a push back towards the door, making the tray in Lux's hands tip precariously. After catching the tray and making it sure was balanced again, Lux swallowed the remainder of her bruised pride as she left the kitchen, letting the door swing closed behind her. The false smile she had maintained while Marge was chiding her dropped from her face as soon as she was out of sight, and her fingers tightened almost painfully around the metal tray in her hands.

 _Miss Du Couteau is very specific._

Oh yes- specifically a pain in the ass. Who in the world wants their cutlery always on the left side of their plate? Who even _cares_? Lux had only been employed as a maid at the Du Couteau manor for a whopping week, and she was already eye-twitchingly annoyed at anyone and everyone that worked around her, and infinitely more at the ones who employed her. Lux had been given one, simple task by her commanding officers in Demacia; track Cassiopeia. And as luck would have it, Cass was in the market for a personal handmaiden when Lux was shipped off to Noxus, so all in all, it sounded like an easy enough job to complete.

But as usual, it was not.

Within the first hour of staring her job, Lux quickly realized that Cassiopeia had no time or patience even for the people whose employment she had requested; Lux gave her her meals (with the cutlery on the _left_ ), and then she was sent off to shadow Katarina all day, and not much else. She spent the majority of her brief time at the manor standing silently at the edge of Katarina's training area outside and standing even more silently in Katarina's office, the only two places the redhead ever seemed to want to be. It made her job very, very hard.

And frustratingly boring.

As Lux left the kitchen now and headed to the service stairwell, she thought miserably of how slowly the morning was going to go, and ultimately, how slowly the rest of her deployment would go; although a month hadn't seemed too long before she'd left Demacia, she was sorely regretting taking the job. Lux shook her head, trying to focus on what she was doing now, and the brief time she would have to see Cass before she was served her lunch later in the day. She exited the stairs on the second floor of the west wing, and set down the long hallway that belonged exclusively to Cassiopeia herself; it was always shrouded in darkness and lit only by light fixtures on the walls every few paces that provided dim alcoves of relief, and Lux kept her pace swift to minimize her down time in the shadows. The hallway had a thick, dark carpet that swallowed the noise of her footsteps so completely that it didn't sound like anyone was walking down it at all, and added to the overall unease the floor had. At the very end of the hallway was a door slightly wider than the few others on the floor, and Lux stopped before it, raising a hand to rap lightly on the wood.

"Breakfast, Miss Du Couteau."

Just like every other time Lux brought her a meal, there was no immediate answer; she sat rocking on her heals in front of the door, waiting for Cass to eventually remember that she was still there.

"Come in."

Lux huffed unhappily, shifting the tray in her hands to one arm and trying to balance it the best she could while she opened the door. Once inside, she gave the room her usual once over as she walked to the table Cass had in her room just for meals; it was kept even darker than the hallway, and the only light in the room was a small lamp that was perched precariously on the edge of the long desk Cass had pressed up against the wall opposite of the door. There was a tall-backed chair that Cass was sitting in every time Lux was in the room that hid most of her hunched over form, and the desk around her hands was covered in open books and loose papers. Lux slowly set down the tray, taking an excruciatingly long amount of time to lift the lid covering the plate as she tried to read what was on some of the papers in Cass's hands. As far as she leaned and as long as she took, she still couldn't clearly read the miniscule script from the distance she was at, and the darkness of the room was no help either.

Lux sighed quietly in frustration, almost dropping the lid to the tray on the table and walking quickly out of the room. The woman spent literally all her time cooped up in her room, which for whatever reason had no windows and no other lighting besides the pitiful desk lamp. The room was never empty, never lit, and Lux was never allowed in it alone. How in the world was she supposed to finish this job? As Lux stalked back down the hallway, she was pretty close to deciding that she didn't particularly care; if she could just get through this month, she would go home and be free of Noxus, at least for a little while.

Back on the stairwell this time, Lux went up to the third floor instead of back down; as per request of Cass, she was assigned to Katarina between meal times, and it was the part of the day that she would have to spend outside while Katarina played with knives and pretend that she wasn't melting in the sun beneath her insufferably uncomfortable uniform.

She couldn't wait.

The third floor of the wing, unlike the second, was brightly lit by a healthy amount of vibrant lights, and Lux didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable walking to Kat's office as she did Cassiopeia's room. The office was clearly denoted by two very wide wooden doors that evenly split the Du Couteau crest carved into their faces, but Lux didn't knock as she would have with Cass; Katarina was used to her quietly letting herself in, and after she closed the doors behind herself Lux stood silently in front of them while she waited for Katarina to react. She was sitting behind the missive desk that dominated the middle of the room, tapping a pen against her lips and for all the world looking like a frustrated four year old faced with a difficult math problem. Lux had assumed before that the office didn't originally belong to Katarina because of the family pictures in expensive frames that were spaced evenly across the desk and the boringly simple décor of the room, coupled with the fact that not a single piece of the sparse furniture had any kind of knife mark on them at all. The floor to ceiling bookcases that covered the walls to Katarina's right and left were covered in thick layers of dust, and even as Lux watched her now, she noticed the careful way Katarina scribbled in the journal in front of her and how she didn't touch anything else on the desk.

Katarina was quick to drop her pen on the desk and snap the journal shut, sighing deeply and stuffing it into one of the drawers by her legs. She pushed her chair back, striding to the door and waving a hand at Lux as she walked past her.

"C'mon."

Lux followed her out, closing the doors behind them and keeping an even but distanced pace behind Katarina as they took the main stairwell to the ground floor. Now that she was out of the office, Katarina was twirling a dagger Lux hadn't noticed on her before between her fingers, and she rolled her shoulders like she'd spent an excruciatingly long day at the office and not just the hour so she was actually in there. As they stepped outside, Lux noticed that the frown tugging down her features while she'd been writing hadn't disappeared, even though Katarina was usually pretty happy when she was in motion; even despite Kat not being Lux's target, she was curious.

At this rate, it would be easier to find out what was plaguing Katarina than to find out anything useful about Cassiopeia.

Lux had a frown of her own as they arrived at the small training area that she assumed was made all for Katarina herself; it was a flat expanse of concrete that was half shaded and half left open to the sun, littered with training dummies that weren't set in any particular pattern that Lux could discern, but one that Katarina fit them into exactly every day even if someone moved them. She stuck the dagger in her hand into the first one she passed as she walked to the shaded side of the training area where her other sharp things were kept, and Lux followed until she was in the shade, tugging the collar of her dress a little further down her neck and settling in to wait.

Katarina's self-training was very thorough.

Most of what she did seemed very repetitive to Lux; she would spend an hour or so throwing the thinner of her knives at the smaller targets, increasing her distance from them until she was stepping off the concrete, and when she took her first break is when Lux was finally allowed to move; she walked quickly to the kitchen, fetching something cold for her to drink, and while Katarina finished her break Lux would walk to each of the target dummies and remove every knife lodged in the fake flesh. And just like every other day after Katarina was sufficiently refreshed, Lux would take the mostly empty pitcher of water back to the kitchen (and taking a moment to drink something herself) and come back to the training area to stand silently while Katarina switched from throwing knives to dueling some of the bigger, heavier dummies, something Lux doubted the efficiency of since they couldn't fight back.

This was usually about the time she would start to doubt the efficiency of what she was doing also.

It wasn't like she could have known before she took the job that it would have ended up like this, and that spying on Cassiopeia would have turned into babysitting Katarina. And now that she thought about it, it wasn't _exactly_ like she could have refused the mission either; she'd never done it before, but it was probably treason… or was it? She was used to taking assignments as they came and learned years ago that questioning it never got her anywhere, but she had plenty of free time now to question it in privacy. She made a mental note to brush up on the minutiae of Demacian military ethics when she got home, but for now simply waited for Katarina to tire herself out.

Which seemed, today, to be rather fast.

She stuck the dagger in her hand into the dummy in front of her with a frustrated sounding grunt, and then stalked off the concrete in the direction of the house. Usually she waited for Lux to be following her, but she didn't turn around today, and Lux jogged quickly to keep up. She watched Katarina carefully as they walked through the tall front doors of the mansion, noticing that again she was turning a small knife through her fingers almost subconsciously, and even though Lux was sure that the sharp edge of the blade had come into contact with the pads of her fingers several times, her skin remained unmarked.

Lux didn't dwell on it for too long when they were inside, sufficiently distracted by the air conditioning. She was only brought back to attention when another maid intercepted Katarina, handing her a pale envelope with a black wax seal that Lux thought might have been in the shape of a rose. Katarina handled it like it was venomous, or about to explode, and she kept it clutched tightly in one of her hands as she led Lux back up the stairs and to her office. Lux followed slowly, not actually sure if Katarina wanted her to, and had her fears eased some when Katarina left the door to the office open for her. Lux closed it quietly behind herself, going to stand in her customary spot in the corner, and Katarina finally pulled out the letter again. She frowned at the inoffensive paper, and as if she were resigning herself to a great deal of pain, reluctantly tore it open.

Her frown didn't increase dramatically, and she sighed a lot, which made Lux think she already knew what the letter was going to say before she opened it. When she'd finished reading over it twice, she folded it back up carefully and pulled open the same drawer at her feet as before, only instead of her journal she extracted a pad of paper that had Noxus' symbol lightly watermarked across its front. She only wrote a few sentences and signed it with flourish, pulling an envelope from somewhere inside the desk and sealing it with wax much like the letter she received, only with a red Du Couteau crest instead of the inky rose.

Lux had to admit that by now, she was pretty curious. She didn't recognize the rose as a crest belonging to any of the noble families living in Noxus, and it wasn't the symbol for Noxus itself, which made Lux think that it wasn't from High Command. If it was neither of those, however, then she was definitely at a loss for who else it could be.

There was a knock at the door before she could consider it for much longer, and Katarina looked up, almost happy to have a distraction.

"Come in."

The door obscured whoever it was for a split second, but it was quickly pushed aside to admit a tall man dressed in a dark, dramatic hood that covered his face and fell all the way to the floor. It was split, Lux realized, almost like the feathers of a bird; each one fit seamlessly together when not in motion, but as the man walked to the chair in front of Katarina's desk they separated with the movement, twirling in an interesting way over his back. He fell into the chair before Lux could stare for too long, and she heard him sigh in exasperation, as if he'd received the same letter as Katarina and came to her office to complain.

"Any news?"

Katarina sounded hopeful now, the letter forgotten as she leaned over the desk. The man -Lux still couldn't tell who it was- put a hand under his hood to rub his eyes, answering in a voice that was much quieter and much deeper than she would have imagined.

"No, and I've been out all night."

Katarina's face fell with barely concealed dismay, although she wiped it off her face quick enough. She slumped back into her chair, frowning at where her hands were folded on the desk.

"I guess I didn't expect anything else… It wasn't a very strong lead, anyway."

"Sorry, Kat."

The man sounded truly apologetic, although Lux wasn't sure for what; she doubted there was something Katarina could have hired the man for that she couldn't do herself, and they spoke much too informal for Lux to really think that was the case. Katarina waved one of her hands like that erased his reason to apologize, whatever it was, and she mumbled quietly.

"Thanks anyway, Talon."

 _Talon._ Now that was a name Lux recognized. It was kept mostly hush-hush around Demacia because Talon was pretty interesting, as far as Noxian assassins went; he was suspected of multiple high-profile assassinations in and out of Noxus which might not have been all too amazing on its own, except that no one in Demacia knew for sure that it was him. He had no signature, no tell-tale sign that someone like Katarina might have. There was also one other small detail.

No one knew what he looked like.

No one in Demacia, at least; Lux went over the slim file that was all the military had on him and that she'd been privy to only a handful of times in her mind, but she was absolutely certain that there was no face to pin with the words. She'd been deployed to the Du Couteau house dozens of times, and their adopted brother had never been there before, so even Lux herself was at a loss. She stood a little straighter, watching the interaction between Talon and Katarina with a renewed interest.

Outwardly, he wasn't as fascinating as she might have imagined.

He was slumped deep in his chair, shoulders sagging in exhaustion, and nothing about him screamed 'deadly assassin' to her, at least. He was thin, as Noxians went, perfectly suited to an assassin who worked solely at night. She wished he would take off the cowl that still covered his face, or at least move a little so that she wasn't only faced with the back of his hood, but Lux wasn't so lucky.

Katarina didn't let the silence stretch for too long; it didn't look like she wanted to talk about whatever Talon was looking for, which Lux was mildly disappointed about, and she gestured to the opened letter in front of her.

"I guess I was expecting this, too."

Her voice sounded incredibly sour, and Talon reached across the desk with one gloved hand to pluck the letter almost delicately off the wood surface. She saw a few slim fingers linger over the wax seal, which she assumed was very important, and continued to pull the letter out of the envelope.

He spent more time reading it than Katarina did, but Lux couldn't read his expression like hers. He replaced the letter when he was finished, tossing it back on the desk like now that he'd read it, it wasn't important anymore.

"That seems…"

For the first time since entering the room, he acknowledged Lux's existence; it was just the slightest tilt of his head in her direction, enough so that the light from one of the windows highlighted the edge of his nose for hardly a second before he turned back to Katarina.

"Personal."

Lux was almost frustrated that he was clearly censoring himself because she was in the room, but she reminded herself that Talon and Katarina and whatever it was that they were doing wasn't her concern.

But it _was_ interesting.

Much more so than Cassiopeia was, and Talon had only been there for all of ten minutes. There was a flicker across Katarina's face as her eyes fell on the letter again-not quite fear, but something very near it.

"I don't think I can ignore it this time."

Talon didn't move to comfort her -Lux doubted Katarina would have wanted him to- but he straightened in his chair, tapping a finger against his leg.

"But anyway."

Katarina snatched the letter off the desk and dropped it into the open drawer by her leg, and kicked it shut with a hollow thump. She waved her hand at the door dismissively.

"You should probably go to sleep, or something. Whatever it is you do."

Talon didn't hesitate; he stood fluidly from his chair, turning to the door so that his cape spun a way that caught Lux's eye again, disappearing as quickly as he'd arrived. Judging from Katarina's expression, Talon's less than polite departure didn't bother her, and she nodded at Lux immediately after.

"I have work to do for the rest of the day; I'm sure you can make yourself useful elsewhere."

She didn't say it unkindly, but Lux was sure it didn't matter to Katarina either way, and with a half-smile, Lux left the room.

* * *

 _Garen walked quickly through the house, his steps heavy and dragging as he made a beeline for his Mother's office. The door was closed, as it always was, and he roughly pushed it open. His mother looked up from her desk, glasses on the edge of her nose and a frown on her brow._

" _It's terribly impolite not to knock- I hope this is important."_

 _The tone of her voice suggested that she didn't think it was, but Garen stood his ground, refusing to leave or apologize for his rudeness._

" _What did you do to Lux?"_

 _He worded it like it was solely her fault that Lux was so different and strange, and from the smile that curved her lips it appeared he guessed correctly._

" _Ah, has she been to see you? She has been ever so excited for your return. I think she-"_

" _Mother."_

 _He had no patience for her weightless pleasantries. He remembered, quite clearly, that when Lux was young she had a gift. She loved to make pretty rainbows and light where there was none, but that was it. She could never change her appearance, and she was_ _ **never**_ _so subdued and demure and offhand about it._

 _Garen's mother's mouth twitched in annoyance, but she answered his original question._

" _Well, you know she's always been gifted. I took her to the college while you were away. I thought she might be interested. The professors there were very impressed. She's a student now, you know. They say she'll be the best mage this generation has seen."_

 _This was all said with an increasing pride, and ended with her almost gloating to Garen about how well the College of Magic had liked Lux. He had to admit, it was an honor to be noticed so young by such a prestigious organization, but she was only eleven. Couldn't it wait?_

" _Does Lux like the college? Does she even want to go?"_

 _From the look now gracing his mother's face, Garen guessed that this had been a problem before. Lux had always been stubborn when it came to doing something she didn't like, and many times before Garen joined the Vanguard and left home she'd been pressured by her mother to do something or another that she didn't want to do, but she never reacted like this; she would fight until she got what she wanted. Lux was smarter than most kids her age though, so her 'tantrums' were usually well thought out arguments that would quickly tire out their mother, and ended with Lux getting what she wanted. She never sat quietly and idly by while she was forced to do something she didn't want to. Ever._

" _She loves it now. She spends all day at the college and the library. They say she's improved immensely."_

 _Garen shook his head at the roundabout confession, anger distorting his features._

" _She should be in_ _ **elementary**_ _school with kids her own age, not in college. It doesn't matter how talented they think she is. This isn't right."_

 _For once his mother didn't answer, just fixed her features into an impassive and expressionless mask and waited for him to finish._

" _Promise me you'll stop forcing her to go. She'll go to the college eventually, when she's ready, but she's too young now."_

 _Garen felt more than out of his depth since maybe he wasn't entirely convinced that it was a bad thing for Lux to be going to the college, but he didn't think it was that simple- it rarely was. If his mother had forced Lux into going to the college and pursuing magic when Lux wasn't old enough to decide for herself, it was wrong. Since he had a feeling Lux wasn't going to say anything, he felt obligated to speak on her behalf. His mother smiled warmly then, rising from her padded office chair and laying her glasses on her desk. She put one hand on the back of Garen's head, gently pulling him to her height so that she could place a kiss on his forehead, light as a feather._

" _So sweet to worry after her; such a kind older brother. I will look after Luxanna while you are away, and she will go the college only when she is ready. I promise."_


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Just so everyone knows, this fic deviates from current lore quite a bit. I wasn't around when they changed it, but I'm pretty sure Lux's old lore was a little darker than it is now, so that's what I'm basing the fic on, and loosely at that :p_**

 ** _The Greek Geek3010- Thank you! I'm having fun writing this (and I've wanted to forever) so hopefully I can keep this going._**

 ** _Piinkk- Thank you! I definitely plan on it ^-^_**

 ** _GarenKat fangirl- Thank you thank you!_**

 ** _Little Caesar's- Thanks c:_**

* * *

 _Lux was in the room alone._

 _She was early- her mother always made sure she was. There was a classroom in the College of Magic that she'd come to think of as her own, since she and her professor were the only people she'd ever seen in it before. She wasn't taught with a class, like the other students were, which she assumed was a good thing._

 _Or at least, her mother said it was._

 _Her mother had a penchant for thinking that a lot of things Lux didn't like were good things, which was why she was at the college at all, but Lux didn't like to dwell on that; she'd long since learned there was no point. Instead, she took the free time she had before her professor would arrive (two minutes and 30 seconds, give or take- the professor was a predictable man) to stare out of the room-length window that overlooked the courtyard, empty now while class was in session. There was a large fountain in the middle of the courtyard that was made entirely of raw crystal that broke off into jagged spires, and because of its position it was always bathed in constant sunlight that fractured off the rough surface. Where the water ran over the crystal the light was even more distorted, and even though Lux only had two minutes, she wished she could stare at it forever._

 _There were certainly upsides to her obligatory lessons at the college, she had to admit; Lux loved to learn, and she especially loved to learn about light and its effect on magic. Specifically,_ _ **her**_ _magic._

 _She assumed that's why the professor met with her alone, and was relatively narrow in his teachings; there was no other twelve year old light mage that she knew._

 _He arrived precisely when she thought he would (she checked her watch to make sure), a leather bag strung over his shoulder and a steaming cup of tea in his hand. He looked tired; Lux noted an irregularity in his step and uncharacteristic rings under his eyes, and he rubbed his eyes after he set his things down and sat at his desk. Lux was sitting at the table nearest his desk, hands folded on the black table top, her eyes wide and expectant. She decided not to comment on his appearance; most people considered it rude to point out when someone was looking haggard. He looked up when he was more composed, although Lux thought he looked rather uncomfortable today, on top of exhausted._

 _"Have you been practicing?"_

 _Lux didn't have homework, per say, but she was expected to rigorously practice everything she learned at the college when she wasn't there. She nodded once and lifted her baton from where it had been resting in her lap, raising her arm and twirling it over her head. The change to her features were instantaneous; where there had been a serious-faced twelve year old a second ago, there was now someone that appeared to be in their late eighties. Lux's hair was grey streaked with white, and pulled into a frizzy bun at the back of her head. Her skin was lined with a multitude of wrinkles and sagged in all the right places, and there were blue veins that stood out clearly against the backs of her wrinkled hands. Besides the fact that the woman was the size of a child, the façade was entirely believable and scarily realistic. Lux was even stooped over in her chair, holding the baton to her chest like it was heavy and she was afraid she was going to drop it._

 _Lux's teacher nodded in approval, and waved a hand at the baton._

 _"How far can you go?"_

 _This was the question she was waiting for; she smiled proudly, highlighting a plethora of laugh lines, and when she spoke her teacher shivered at the image of the geriatric speaking with a child's voice._

 _"I tested it at two miles, five, and ten. It felt the same at all distances. I believe I've perfected it."_

 _Two miles was the distance to the park by Lux's house that she wasn't allowed to play in anymore, five miles was the distance to Garen's favorite restaurant, and ten was the distance to the Library where Lux spent the majority of her free time studying. She walked the entire distance by herself, under the guise of a short haired boy, baton still at home, and not once had her magic faltered. She was being generous in her words; she didn't_ _ **believe**_ _she'd perfected her illusions - she knew for sure._

 _Her professor raised a brow, clearly impressed, and Lux let the illusion she was currently upholding fade away while he thought of what to say. Lux watched his face while he thought, and she noticed with some concern that he didn't appear entirely pleased, even though this was what they both wanted._

 _Right?_

 _"That's amazing, Lux. You've improved immensely."_

 _Lux nodded, but warily this time, because she sensed that there was something more her professor wanted from her, although she couldn't be sure what._

 _"You know, you're easily the most talented mage at this school. A lot of people are interested in what you can do."_

 _This wasn't news to Lux, so she didn't say anything, just waited patiently with her fingers curled painfully tight around her baton. Her teacher was uncharacteristically uncomfortable, and she didn't immediately know why, which made_ _ **her**_ _uncomfortable._

 _"There's a lot more that light can do than just change your appearance, you know."_

 _Clearly, Lux knew. She knew better than anyone._

 _"Yes."_

 _Her professor rubbed his chin, and evenly met her calm stare._

 _"You could create illusions, like you are now, or you could bend the light in a completely new way to hide, just as easy."_

 _Lux nodded again, although she had to admit she was a little excited now; she would love to learn how to use her gift in new ways. Still, she felt like her professor had more to say, and judging from the way he hesitated to speak, Lux assumed that he was getting to whatever it was that was bothering him._

 _"But it can also be used as a weapon."_

* * *

The following week went much like her first.

Lux followed the same, boring routine; she was verbally abused by Marge at every meal time, ignored by Cassiopeia, forced to follow around Katarina. She didn't see Talon again during the week, and although she was idly curious about where he disappeared to, she quickly forgot about him. She was distracted by a feeling that something in the household wasn't quite right; Katarina was slowly growing more and more on edge, spending less time training and more time in her office penning letters until by the end of the week, she spent no time training at all. She and Lux stayed in that office at the top of the west wing, Lux trying to read Katarina's small, slanted script from across the room, Katarina slowly but surely driving herself insane.

It was miserable for both of them.

When Lux had wondered if her time in the Du Couteau house could get any worse, she was thinking rhetorically; she guessed that it was just her kind of luck that it actually could. Saturday morning, after she'd silently delivered an equally quiet Cassiopeia her breakfast, she trudged back up to Katarina's office, her legs already sore at the thought of standing in the same spot all day. The redhead was in the same chair as always, but instead of furiously scribbling away like she had been the past couple of days, she was sitting stiffly in her chair, fingers curled around yet another letter sealed shut with the Du Couteau crest. She stood up right when Lux arrived, moving towards the door before she'd even had a chance to close it behind her.

"I have something to do today, and I guess you're coming with me since Cass is still busy."

It was hard for Lux to keep her face smooth, and only when Katarina had walked passed her and out of the office did she allow herself to frown; the last thing Lux wanted to do was follow Katarina around Noxus in the heat, especially since she didn't know where they were going. And regardless, anywhere not actually _in_ the Du Couteau mansion was too far away from Cassiopeia, who she still had nothing new on.

It hadn't gotten any easier for her in the past week to get closer to Cassiopeia; on the contrary, the woman seemed even more on edge, and oftentimes Lux would bring her dinner only to find out that her previous two meals had gone uneaten. When she'd initially arrived in Noxus at the beginning of the month, Lux hadn't been all that interested in Cassiopeia, or particularly cared what her higher ups were so eager to find out about her. She was less interesting than the other Du Couteau siblings, less involved in the shady business of murder, but now that Lux thought about it, that made it all the stranger why she was instructed to spy on Cass, not the other siblings. She was completely ordinary, from an outsider's perspective, but there was _someone_ in Demacia who had decided that she was worth Lux's attention- easily Demacia's best spy.

A lot of resources spent on one antisocial Noxian.

As usual when Lux started to think about Cassiopeia at length, she got bored; she didn't know why Demacia was interested in her and couldn't find out until she was back home, so the subject naturally began to lose her attention. Instead, she thought back to the letter Katarina had received at the beginning of the week, the one with the rose shaped seal. Wherever Katarina was going today definitely had something to do with it, and even if Lux wasn't especially eager to walk up and down the mountain all day, she was slightly interested in seeing where the letter was from.

Katarina had opposite feelings, that much was obvious.

She walked down the stairs to the foyer of the mansion with the expression of someone on death row, which she supposed might not actually be that far off base, considering Noxus' very lenient policies on the murder of nobles. Still, Lux had a feeling that Katarina was overreacting; from what she knew of her and what she'd seen of Katarina the other times she'd been in the Du Couteau household, Katarina was more than capable of handling herself.

She noticed then that she hoped, however mildly, that Katarina wasn't in immediate danger; it would be a shame if the most interesting of the Du Couteau siblings was to suddenly find herself on the wrong end of a knife.

Lux was letting her mind wander away from the morbid subject just as they were passing the second floor, where Cassiopeia's room was, so when Katarina stopped on the stairs she almost ran into her back. Lucky for her she stopped in time, backing up an appropriate distance and seeing why they weren't moving.

Lux raised an eyebrow in surprise, careful to avoid flat-out staring.

She'd thought that Cassiopeia was the only one who inhabited the second floor, but she appeared to be wrong; Talon was almost at the end of the hallway, appearing just as exhausted as he had the last time she saw him. He was wearing that cowl again, and in the dim light that was all the second floor had to offer, it was even harder for Lux to see his face, especially considering that she was looking only from the corner of her eye. Katarina waved him over, and when he was closer to the more appropriately lit stairwell, Lux saw that he was dressed a lot more casually than she remembered.

"Are you headed out?"

Katarina's voice clearly implied that she hoped he wasn't, which Lux didn't think Talon picked up on, because he answered her honestly.

"No. Why?"

Katarina put on her best smile (or so Lux assumed), and that was what finally made Talon stand a little straighter, suddenly wary.

"Great- I have a favor to ask you."

Lux had a feeling she knew what the favor was.

Talon didn't respond, and Katarina moved a little to the side so that Lux was no longer halfway obscured by her body.

"I have to go to High Command, and the last thing I want to do is have her follow me around there all day, but Cass is going to get all pissy if I just leave her here with nothing to do."

It infuriated Lux to have Katarina talk about her like she wasn't standing all of two inches away, and like she was some inconvenient pet to be foisted off at the first chance and not an actual person. She was even angry enough that it didn't really register that the letter _was_ from High Command, and so was that black rose seal. Still, it made her even more uncomfortable than angry when she could feel Talon's stare, but not see it, and she couldn't help but stand a little straighter under the weighty gaze.

"And…?"

It was clear to all of them what Katarina was asking, but he was making her say it, maybe in the vain hope that Katarina would change her mind and walk away with Lux in tow.

"Can you watch her until I get back? She's even quieter than you are, and I'm sure you'd rather deal with her than Cass."

The fact alone that Talon didn't immediately refuse was proof to Katarina's last statement; Lux was completely at a loss for why, but both of the siblings so far had shone a very clear aversion to bothering Cassiopeia when they could avoid it, and Lux wondered what the woman had done to dissuade two assassins from even wanting to speak to her. Talon sighed very, very deeply, rubbing one of his hands over the back of his hood.

"Fine, but you owe me, and I'm not-"

Katarina didn't let him finish, just lightly punched his left shoulder and stepped down the rest of the stairs.

"Thanks!"

Katarina's almost lighthearted dismissal made Lux cringe, and besides the fact that she now had to spend god knows how many hours following around one of the most disconcerting people she'd ever met, Katarina and Talon had both made it clear that they wanted to steer clear of Cassiopeia at all costs. This meant that, since she was stuck with them, _Lux_ had to stay away from her.

The job just kept getting better.

* * *

Talon didn't understand why exactly Katarina couldn't just hand off the maid to the others and be done with it, but he understood well enough her desire to avoid Cassiopeia's anger; the last thing either of them wanted was another mouthful from her about something so trivial.

Although he really, _really_ didn't want to be tailed by someone all day.

It was unnerving having her follow him around- he didn't know how Katarina could stand it. The girl, if he could even call her that, even looked weird; she was standing so stiffly he thought she might snap at any second, and she was turned halfway away from him, seemingly reluctant to actually look at him. Other than that, she was rather nondescript; she had frizzy auburn hair and premature wrinkles, and even though her uniform did a good job of making her appear shapeless, everything about her was thin in the extreme, and Talon judged that he had a least a head of height on her.

And -as Katarina promised- she was very quiet.

Whatever. He'd planned on training today anyway, taking it easy after yet another long night out, and it wouldn't be hard for the maid to stand there in silence like she'd been doing with Kat, no matter how strange she was. He didn't say anything as he walked down the stairs, and like he assumed, the maid followed almost noiselessly behind. Having someone at his back that wasn't Katarina made him painfully uncomfortable, and the skin on the back of his neck felt like it was crawling. Constantly reminding himself that the threat behind him wasn't actually a threat didn't help, and Talon began to regret being such a pushover with Kat.

Luckily for him and luckily enough, he assumed, for the maid, the training room he most preferred was on the second floor of the east wing, and it didn't take them very long to switch staircases and walk back up a floor. Not a lot of people actually used the east wing anymore; Katarina's bedroom used to be on the third floor, but so was the General's, and since he'd been missing she had moved to the west wing instead. Talon himself slept in the west wing when he was home, and now the only use for that side of the house was the training room.

Talon was the kind of person that could spend hours training, if he had the hours to spare; it wasn't fun, exactly, but he liked the thoughtless movement and the effortless pull of muscle, and it was easy enough to lose track of time. Today, he entered the room with a quiet sigh of regret; it didn't feel the same with the maid there, even though she'd stopped at the doorway and looked resigned to stay there, and even as Talon walked deeper into the room his irritation didn't ease.

Just one day.

Just a couple of hours, actually; Talon doubted High Command would have a need for Katarina for long, and when she was back, the favor she owed him would be to not ask him for stupid favors anymore.

It was reluctantly then that Talon walked to the far wall of the training room where there were countless racks of every kind of blade imaginable, picking off several made for throwing and testing the weight in his hands. He felt better with the cold metal against his skin, and he'd almost completely forgotten about the maid when he unclasped the hood around his neck, hanging it on a free hook on the wall and turning around.

* * *

Lux knew where Talon was leading her as soon as they headed for the east wing, and she'd faced it with the same reluctance she did when she was forced to watch Katarina train. She supposed it didn't matter who she was actually assigned to, since the assassins spent their time doing the same boring things as each other. Maybe that was why she wasn't assigned to spy on Katarina or Talon; because they were painfully boring when they weren't actively stabbing someone.

Well, maybe not Talon- there was at least a modicum of interest to him.

If there was one thing that wasn't completely miserable about watching him exercise, it was that Lux had a bit more freedom to stare now that Talon was sufficiently distracted. He was doing an excellent job of ignoring her, and he moved immediately to the side of the training room covered floor to ceiling in an impressive collection of weapons. It took him almost no time at all to quickly pluck three off the wall, arranging them in one hand until he was satisfied, and then surprising her by quickly unclasping his cowl and hanging it on the wall.

 _Now_ she was interested.

It didn't seem to occur to him that Lux was wide-eyed and staring, and she worked to control her expression before he did, and when her face was once again neutral, Talon turned, giving Lux an unobstructed view of the side of his face.

She wasn't really sure what she expected; maybe extensive scarring, or a white streak in his hair (that Lux would never admit she found attractive) like Darius. Instead, his features were dark in the extreme, and offset by unusually pale skin, even for a Noxian. Dark hair that fell into his eyes and to his ears, dark eyes, dark expression. He had a strong jawline that she thought many a female would appreciate, and his lips were pressed into a thin line like he was trying hard to concentrate. Lux pursed her own lips, eyes following every movement as Talon moved back a few steps, turning to see how much room he had behind him and giving Lux a better view of his features. She sort of nodded to herself, giving Talon a silent seal of approval; he wasn't bad looking, at least.

It occurred to Lux then that she was the only living Demacian that could say that.

She didn't know why, but the thought filled her with a morbid sort of pride, and as Talon lifted a hand, aiming a knife, Lux tried to think of something -anything- else.

Easy enough.

He didn't take long to point the knife in his hand in the right direction, and when he finally moved Lux almost missed it. He moved faster than Katarina did, even, but with less accuracy; still, every knife found the mark he was looking for on the dummy across the room.

It went on like that for a few hours; Talon would throw the same three knives, sometimes all at the same time, and then walk across the room and pry them loose from the training dummies. Sometimes he threw far, sometimes fast, but he never missed and never even seemed to want to slow down. He was less fun to watch than Katarina because she changed up her training routine as it went on, but Talon did the same thing in an emotionless, tireless way that was completely opposite of his sister. It was only around lunch time that he even acknowledged she was still there.

"Don't you have somewhere to be right now?"

He was actively throwing a knife when he said it, which made his voice sound more than a little strange; the end of his sentence was punctuated by the knife hitting its mark, and when it was no longer in the air, he shifted his eyes to where Lux was standing. She figured that answering him was probably her next best move.

"Yes. Am I to return when I am finished?"

He shrugged his shoulders like he really could not be bothered to care, but still answered.

"Sure."

Lux didn't say anything as she turned to leave and neither did Talon; it was a relief to be able to stretch her legs, and to be able to do something with herself, even if it was just for a few minutes while she brought Cassiopeia lunch. And she realized, now that she had a moment alone to think about it, that she was probably being a little creepy; she'd been staring unabashed at Talon for hours, and she doubted that went entirely unnoticed. She didn't care enough to be embarrassed, but she resolved to be less obvious, if for no other reason than to avoid unnecessary attention or suspicion.

She walked down to the kitchen, saying a cheery hello to Marge and collecting the metal tray that was set aside for Cassiopeia. She then lugged the thing back up the west wing stairs, noting with a frown that being forced to stand for hours on end everyday was leaving her with rather sore muscles. She stepped off at the second floor, padding down that unnerving hallway, stopping at the end like she had every other day of the last two weeks, and then raised a hand and knocked on the door in front of her.

Lux waited patiently for an answer, taking the extra time to make sure that the cutlery Cassiopeia probably wasn't even going to use was on the correct side of the tray, and when she'd been standing in the same spot for almost five minutes, she frowned.

It would be rude to knock again.

She waited another minute, but there was still no answer and no sound from behind the door, so Lux risked it and knocked again anyway.

Still no answer.

She didn't think she could bring the tray back to the kitchen without Marge threatening to fire her or physically harm her, and she couldn't just leave it in the hallway either- that would be unsanitary and most likely frowned upon. She tried to decided which was worse, and when there was no clear winner, Lux steeled herself and slowly opened the door.

It was nearly pitch dark inside, so Lux wasn't actually sure that it was empty, but since Cassiopeia hadn't immediately lost it when she let herself in, she assumed the coast was clear. For once in the past two weeks, Lux actually felt something that resembled a sort of relieved happiness; not only would she not have to be yelled at for failing to deliver food to someone who wasn't there to receive it, she now had time to actually look into Cassiopeia a little. She wasted no time in striding to the middle of the room to the table where there was a small stack of trays a different maid had yet to clean up, depositing her own tray and then moving quietly to Cassiopeia's desk.

It was even messier up close. Cassiopeia had loose papers with strange glyphs scrawled over every single one covering the entirety of the desk, along with several stacks of leather-bound books and numerous pens, stamps, and other mundane office supplies. Lux lightly ran a finger over one of the pages with the strange glyphs on it, feeling like she'd seen them somewhere before, but unable to remember precisely where. She frowned in frustration, wishing that Ezreal could somehow be there to help her- he would have known where the language was from.

Lux didn't see anything else of interest on the desk or in the rest of the room, and she reached out a hand, meaning to pick up a scattered pile of the papers.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The voice coming from the doorway was chilling, making the hairs on the back of Lux's neck stand up. It was only a decade's worth of training that kept her from jumping, and she turned around slowly, meeting Cassiopeia's furious glare with a dim-witted stare.

"They told me to bring you lunch."

Lux pointed slowly to the tray, which was indeed on the table, and Cassiopeia stalked over while Lux folded her hands against her chest, trying her best to look like she was scared and entirely apologetic; she knew that the expression would be perfectly believable, even if she couldn't see it herself.

"What are you doing at my _desk?_ "

Again, the snap of Cassiopeia's voice was almost enough to unnerve Lux. She'd never heard a voice like that before; it was low and sultry, but it had a dangerous undertone to it that would be impossible for anyone to ignore. It made Cass feel dangerous in a way that Katarina and Talon didn't, subtle and instinctual, and Lux now completely understood why neither of them wanted to talk to her.

"They told me to clean. Do you want me to clean?"

Lux had decided before she was employed that this certain alias, Amelia the maid, would be a girl who smoked too much and slept too little, and was also extensively simple minded; she'd perfected the look that made it seem like she never really grasped anything anyone said to her, and she found that repeating herself often added to the air of stupidity.

It also really, really annoyed people.

Cassiopeia was one of those people. Her eyes -the green of the irises caught the desk lamp light in a way that almost made them look venomous- narrowed in irritation, and she jabbed a finger at the door. Lux quickly noticed that even though Cassiopeia was easily the most striking person she'd ever met, she looked beyond tired, and her perfectly styled blonde hair was on the verge of looking messy.

"Get _out._ "

Lux certainly didn't waste time in following the order, almost running from the room like a chagrined maid should. After the door was closed she slowed down, taking her time walking down the hallway so that she could think through the little information she was presented with.

Most obvious being that Cassiopeia was clearly close to snapping.

She'd let Lux go without firing _or_ murdering her, which Lux attributed to the fact that she was distracted, not merciful. She'd also had an impressive amount of literature that was written completely in the pictured script that Lux still couldn't pinpoint where she'd seen before. It was frustrating that she couldn't remember it, but this was the only information she'd gotten on the woman in weeks, and she was glad that at least now she wouldn't return to Demacia completely empty handed.

She wouldn't have anything _useful_ to say, but that was beside the point and Lux was beyond caring.

Lux walked the rest of the way to kitchen not smiling, but close, the image of the fire-eyed Cassiopeia still in her mind.

* * *

He couldn't be sure how long the maid was gone.

He wouldn't usually care, but if she did something stupid, like get lost, it would be up to him to find her, so Talon became increasingly more nervous the longer she was missing. He realized he was probably overreacting when she was back in the room not fifteen minutes later, although he did notice that her already sallow skin seemed paler, like she was nervous or scared, but the very beginnings of a smile were pulling at her lips.

She was weird- seriously.

She _had_ come back with a pitcher of water and cups however, and since Talon was more than a little thirsty, he opted to ignore whatever was going on with her and hydrate himself.

But she was still weird.

* * *

Lux had almost forgotten on the way back to the training room that she should be bringing Talon something to drink by now, like she would have with Katarina; it was a good thing she remembered, because when she was back in the room with Talon, he immediately walked over, eagerly accepting a cup with a strangely wary stare.

She remembered what she told herself before -not to stare openly and creepily- but he was distracted again, and this was the first opportunity she'd had to study him up close. He had the long sleeves of his shirt pushed up and away from his wrists where they wouldn't bother him while he was handling knives, and it was only now that he was so close to her that she noticed he wasn't nearly as slight as he appeared initially. The corded muscles of his forearms moved beneath his skin in a way that Lux found eye catching, like the way his cloak moved, but she wasn't left to appreciate it for long before he caught where she was looking.

He didn't say anything -thankfully for her- but he handed the cup back immediately, frowning ever so slightly at her as returned to the middle of the room, preparing another knife in his hand and studiously ignoring her.

For her own sake, Lux hoped Katarina came back soon.

* * *

 _The next day when Lux returned to the college, her professor wasn't there; she waited the appropriate amount of time, glancing between the fountain and the door, but unless he was uncharacteristically late, he wasn't coming._

 _She guessed he wasn't._

 _Professor Gavins wasn't the type to suddenly deviate his behavior on a whim, and Lux's initial prediction was correct. When someone finally entered the room, it wasn't the professor. It was a tall man with a salt and pepper beard that carried a new looking briefcase, and his suit was unusually neat and pristine for simply meeting with Lux- or whatever it was that he was doing. She watched him across the table, somewhat nervously, unconsciously white-knuckling the baton in her lap._

 _The man didn't sit in her professors spot, like she expected; instead he placed his briefcase carefully on the desk, leaning next to it with a casual air that contrasted greatly with his suit and all-together neat and prim appearance. Even when he spoke, Lux was surprised; his voice was much more youthful than she would have guessed, although almost… slithery, somehow._

 _"They told me how young you were, but I suppose it's one thing being told and another to see for yourself."_

 _Another kid her age might have bristled at their age being insulted, but Lux was proud of it- even though her thirteenth birthday was this month, she was easily the youngest person to be considered a magical prodigy in Demacia._

 _She didn't answer, mostly because she didn't think that the statement was worth responding to, and also because she felt that her eerie silence and stillness were unsettling the man, who for some reason Lux immediately decided she didn't like. She didn't usually base her decisions off of gut feelings (she was a girl who much preferred tangible facts and evidence, even considering that she was a magic user) but she went with it now, waiting as patiently as she could for the man to speak again._

 _"Your old professor -Gibbons? Glavers?- anyway. Did he begin to discuss with you the next steps of your training?"_

 _There were several things about the smooth-talking man that Lux immediately disliked, further convincing her that her instinctual unease was well placed; he ought to have known her professors name, for one thing, and the fact that he said 'training' and not 'education' made Lux's stomach twist._

 _But regardless- she'd been taught not to ignore an adult that asked her a direct question, and she'd been taught forcefully well; her cheek stung with a phantom slap when she remembered how little her mother tolerated any form of rudeness from her, and she answered the man, albeit slowly._

 _"Not in significant depth, but yes."_

 _Professor Gavins had begun to explain to Lux the day before a few of the other uses of light, but he would stop sometimes in the middle of his explanations, until he gave up completely and released Lux early. She couldn't help but feel that that was the reason he wasn't here today, and the slimy man in the nice suit was._

 _"I guess I should introduce myself- I'm Gabbers' boss. I work for the Demacian government. We're the ones who your mother contacted when she wanted to enroll you into the college early."_

 _Some introduction- and some boss, too. He still didn't remember Gavins' name and Lux very much doubted that he was the man that his mother had reached out to specifically, but not for one moment did Lux doubt that he worked for the government- deep, deep in the shadows, she assumed._

 _"Our knowledge of light magic isn't the most extensive, I have to admit, but you've given us a wonderful opportunity to study it at length, if you're willing, and in return we want to offer you the information that we_ _ **do**_ _have."_

 _Lux had a feeling that even though he was mostly likely given her IQ and told in no uncertain terms that she was especially intelligent, he thought she was gullible, like any other child her age. What he offered sounded like he had a lot more to learn from her than she from him, but Lux couldn't help that she was somewhat interested. She knew there was a lot about her magic that she was missing, and Lux desperately wanted to know more._

 _But not so desperately that she would allow the tidy man to manipulate her._

 _"Okay."_

 _For now, she would play into the assumption that she was a daft child, if only to hold somewhat of an advantage over his head._

 _"It's easy for someone as gifted as yourself to aid Demacia, like your brother did when he joined the Vanguard. He's about to be promoted, actually; he's well on his way to someday leading the Vanguard himself."_

 _Lux raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment; she couldn't deny that she was impressed and happy for Garen himself, but she still had the nagging feeling that the man was only telling her this because he thought it would help him to get what he wanted. He crossed one leg over his other, and Lux idly thought that his suit was going to crease._

 _"We want you to join Demacia's cause, like your brother did. With your gift, you could save hundreds of lives. You could prevent battles and wars even before they started."_

 _Lux evenly met the nameless man's stare, even though her stomach was turning. He didn't say it in definitive terms (she assumed he was strictly instructed not to), but he was essentially asking the twelve year old to join the army, and he used Garen, who was currently eighteen, as motivation. Not only that, which was disturbing enough, the way he explained what her gift could potentially do sounded a lot like they wanted Lux to be a spy, which made what Gavins told her yesterday make sense. He'd said that light could change your appearance, completely mask your presence so that no one could see you, and he also said that, when bent in such a way, light could kill, if you needed it to._

 _Lux didn't want to be a spy._

 _Spies were sneaky, dirty people that slunk around in shadows, always on the periphery and never, ever regarded with any sort of notoriety, like the man hinted. She wouldn't be like Garen; she would be a secret that the government was ashamed of, and they would deny her existence until they were blue in the face. Spies were not loved and they were not wanted, because enlisting spies was the sort of underhandedness that Noxus revered, not Demacia._

 _And spies always, always died._

 _Demacia had made plenty of examples out of captured spies and fallen assassins, and that was what the man was asking her to be- a Noxian in ethics, if not by name. Lux felt sick._

 _Even though her stomach churned almost painfully and her hands were slick around the metal of her baton, she knew she had to remain calm; to accuse the man of illegally attempting to conscript a minor into the army could prove disastrous for her or her mother, and would most certainly have repercussions on Garen's steadily climbing career. To also admit that she saw through his pretenses would lose Lux her upper hand, and she didn't want to do that, not yet. Besides, the man hadn't actually asked her to do anything definitively, a fact Lux did not miss, and if she wanted to avoid trouble and still continue with her lessons, she had to keep quiet._

 _And it was a comfort (even if a small one) that no matter what he said, the minimum age for joining the military in Demacia was seventeen. Lux wasn't even close to that age, and she figured by the time she was, she would have learned a great deal more about her magic than she knew now, and that she would find some way to help Demacia that didn't involve forced espionage._

 _And even as stubborn and forceful as her mother was sometimes, she loved Lux, and she knew that the idea of a thirteen year old in the army would be as off-putting to her as anyone else in Demacia._

 _So Lux smiled, a small expression that looked as neutral as she could manage, and nodded slowly, certain that she hadn't taken too long to consider his words and that he wasn't suspicious._

 _"Oh, I would love to help people and to serve Demacia. When I turn seventeen, I'll join just like Garen did."_

 _She thought that adding the age requirement was subtle enough, and since the man chose not to comment, she assumed it worked. Instead, he smiled much like she had, speaking with that smooth, slick voice that was laced with a new sort of excitement._

 _"I look forward to the day."_


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: A fan- Thanks! I've always preferred a darker sort of Lux (ha) also, but to each their own, I suppose! Hopefully the suspense isn't too bad- I've actually been devoting a lot of attention to this fic, and three chapters in three days is virtually unheard of for me._**

 ** _X0chu0x- Thank you! I'd like to think I updated very soon._**

 ** _Ulcaasi- What's a poor beefcake Beyblade to do :( Thanks!_**

 ** _Antonio - a Fanfiction reader- Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for the follow! Also you're welcome, and I hope to see you in chapter four also!_**

* * *

 _Lux didn't have birthdays like most kids her age did._

 _She was a Crownguard, which meant that each passing year was another excuse for her family to throw a lavish, expensive party that cost more money than most people made in a week. Lux had enjoyed them was she was younger and a little more free to do so, when things like pony rides and cakes big enough to sleep on had been important to her. Now though, it seemed that the festivities were a little too loud and much too crowded for her tastes, and the times her mother hunted her down to make sure she was socializing were especially painful._

 _She really just wanted everyone to leave._

 _It wouldn't have been so bad if she actually knew anyone there, but since Lux had been attending classes at the college, she didn't have any friends her age anymore; to top it off, she'd received a very apologetic letter from Garen that morning stating that he was going to be tied up with a last minute assignment and wouldn't be able to make it. Not even professor Gavins came, and Lux had been hoping that since he wasn't teaching her anymore, he might have the time to come to the party._

 _But he didn't._

 _Garen wasn't there, her father didn't even stay for more than ten minutes, and her mother was too busy flitting from guest to guest and making sure that everyone had enough refreshments to even remember what the party was for. Lux wasn't especially sad, other than Garen not being able to attend, but she was very bored, and since her mother had said in no uncertain terms that she wasn't allowed to bring her baton to the party, she was left with nothing to do._

 _It wasn't a very good thirteenth birthday._

 _And it was hours -several long, painful hours- before the dragged out party came to a close, and Lux was grateful for the first time ever in her life that they had maids, because the thought of cleaning up the mess of a few hundred people seemed particularly daunting that night. The party had been held outside, and Lux drifted back into her house when she was sure that she was no longer needed, eager to escape away upstairs and sleep the miserable night away. She was pretty surprised when she found her mother standing at the bottom of the stairs, blocking her way to her room and unsuccessfully hiding a long, thin box behind her back. She walked over after Lux walked into the room, sliding one thin arm around Lux's tiny shoulders and leading her away from the stairs and towards the kitchen._

 _"Did you have a nice night, Luxanna?"_

 _She couldn't help but note that her mother didn't sound genuinely curious, but then again, she rarely every did when it came to Lux and it wasn't about school or magic. Still, she was making an effort, for whatever reason, and Lux felt compelled to play along, if nothing other than to placate her._

 _"Yes, mother."_

 _Her mother rubbed her shoulder, smiling a perfectly white and even smile, leading Lux into the kitchen and gesturing with her free arm at a small, blue cake in the middle of their table, with thirteen unlit candles on the top. Lux stared at it for a moment, confused, and tilted her head upwards to her mother. It struck her then, as it did at other random times, that her mother and herself didn't look anything alike; her mother had short, expertly curled brown hair, and Lux's was flaxen and straight, hanging well past her shoulders. She knew their differences didn't only run skin deep, but it was those blatant reminders that always drove it home for Lux._

 _Maybe that was why she was suspicious; maybe that was why when Lux was led to the table and to that small, inoffensive cake, she felt like she was about to be fed something poisonous, not delicious, and it took a lot of effort for her not to dig in her heels and scream in protest, much like a spoiled child._

 _If her mother noticed her reluctance, she didn't say anything, simply made sure Lux was good and seated before placing the box in front of her._

 _"I know usually you eat the cake first, but I thought you would want to open it. It's a gift from your father and I, and even Garen helped to design it."_

 _Lux slowly lifted a hand, running one finger over the smooth, metallic wrapping paper that covered the present. It caught the light from the ceiling fixtures above, shining in no discernable pattern, and Lux had to think that with a box that beautiful, the present inside must be amazing. She wondered why her mother hadn't given it to her at the party with everyone else, but she was being so sweet to her now, so much like a normal, warm mother that Lux was afraid to speak and chase her away. Instead, she silently and excruciatingly carefully opened the box, making sure not to rip any of the pretty paper. Beneath the wrapping was a white cardboard box with no markings, and without hesitating Lux lifted the lid, gasping quietly._

 _It was a baton much like her own, but also better in every way; it was longer, a little thinner, and the intricate, twisting metal work at both ends seemed to change the more you looked at it, and Lux thought it might be the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She wasn't as careful as she had been with the wrapping paper; she had to touch it and she had to touch it_ _ **now,**_ _and when the tips of her fingers finally came into contact with the smooth metal, Lux almost cried from the joy._

 _It was beautiful._

 _Not only was it amazingly crafted, but when Lux lifted it out of the box, it felt more natural than her other one, more of an extension of her own arm than a tool at her disposal. There was the steady thrum of her magic beneath her fingers when she wrapped them around the baton, and Lux looked up at her mother with the biggest, widest smile she'd ever had._

 _"Thank you."_

 _She'd thought that as excited as she was, her voice would be much louder, closer to a shout than the breathy whisper it came out to be instead. Lux felt tears sting her eyes as her mother placed her palm against her cheek, leaning forward to place the gentlest of kisses to her forehead._

 _"My dear, sweet Luxanna- it is truly our pleasure."_

 _It was the most affection that her mother had shone her in years, and Lux actually did shed a tear this time, one that she immediately wiped away in embarrassment. She and her mother both laughed quietly, and with her arm once again around Lux's shoulders, her mother gestured to the cake._

 _"Your new professor has told me you learned something interesting in your past few lessons; do you think you could light the candles yourself?"_

 _Her mother spoke with what Lux was sure was genuine curiosity now, and ever eager to please, Lux lifted her new baton, effortlessly setting all thirteen candles aflame with the smallest twirl of her wrist and a small flash of light. Her mother ahh'd quietly, patting Lux's arm with the hand still around her shoulders, and when Lux turned to her, her mother did the same, the candlelight catching on both of their smiles, so different yet equally joyous._

 _She hadn't been hungry before, but riding on the same excitement, Lux ate enough cake for two, and when she was finished her mother wiped the blue icing carefully off her face, leading her sleep heavy body to the stairs that led to the second floor. There were still balloons that hung to the banister, swaying gently, and Lux watched them bob with a smile, only turning away when her mother planted a kiss on the top of her head and gave her a gentle push up the stairs._

 _"Happy birthday, my beautiful Luxanna."_

* * *

Lux had nightmares.

They were terrible things that came and went no matter what she did, where she was, or more embarrassingly, who she was with; it was fortunate enough for her, in a sad way, that Lux spent enough time alone for no one else to really pick up on the fact that she was plagued by night terrors. It was a little more difficult to keep it under wraps in the Du Couteau household, however. The maids shared a chain of guest bedrooms on the bottom floor that were all wall to wall, and in order for Lux to completely avoid suspicion, she didn't get as much sleep as she should. Coupled with the fact that she was still more than nervous about her run in with Cassiopeia the previous day, Lux had gotten nothing but a few measly minutes of sleep, and when she reported to the kitchen first thing that morning she was dragging.

Marge noticed this with a smile that was a little too smug, planting her meaty hands on her hips and tilting her chin up at Lux so that she could look down her nose at her.

"Lady Katarina wants to see you."

Lux gave the rest of the kitchen a quick glance, but the tray for Cassiopeia's breakfast was already gone; Lux couldn't help the nervousness that twisted through her, because if the Du Couteaus decided she was a problem, she wouldn't be around for much longer. Still, she thought that if Katarina was actually going to kill her, it wouldn't be in her office. It was that thought only that motivated Lux to move away from Marge's superior stare, and she trudged up the west wing staircase much like Katarina had gone down it the day before- as if there was likely to be an executioner at the end. Her steps faltered when she passed the second floor, but the dark hallway was empty, and she couldn't even see Cassiopeia's room from her end.

Lux's trepidation increased when she was standing in front of the double doors, but she pushed them open like she would any other day, blinking her sleepy eyes as she stepped inside.

Katarina might not kill Lux in her own office, but Talon certainly would.

He was sitting in Katarina's chair, slumped almost uncomfortably low, with his hands curled around a cup of what she could smell to be coffee and his eyes on Lux's face.

At least, she assumed they were; she couldn't actually see them beneath his hood, but she could feel them, like something was crawling over her skin. She hesitated in the doorway with her hand still on the knob, her muscles tensed in case she had to run. Not that it would really do her any good; she was too tired to make any good distance and she didn't have her baton with her to defend herself, so if Talon wanted her dead, she very much doubted he would have to try hard.

It wasn't a very comforting thought.

He didn't move from the chair though, and Lux thought it might be a little difficult for him to kill her if he didn't actually move; he was an accomplished assassin, but not _that_ accomplished.

"Sit."

His voice wasn't tilted towards any one emotion (in her experience, it never was) and Lux figured that it probably wouldn't hurt to just do what he said. Besides, sitting was a lot more comfortable than standing. She sat in the same chair he did when he was on her side of the desk, her back ramrod straight and painfully stiff, waiting while he sipped his coffee.

"You don't work for Cass anymore."

Lux blinked in surprise, but she figured that out of everything he could have said and done, she should probably be grateful that this was it.

"Then who?"

He hadn't said she was fired, and Lux's job description was handmaiden, which meant she had to work for _someone._

Talon tapped a finger against the side of his cup, sitting just the slightest bit straighter.

"Katarina."

It was pretty obvious that that was who she would be passed off to, but it didn't make sense why Talon was here instead of her if that was the case.

"Where is she?"

Talon stopped the tapping, and if Lux could see his face, she would bet he was frowning.

"She's busy."

Busy: just like Cass. Which meant-

"So you're stuck with me."

She cringed when she realized she'd actually phrased it the same way she thought it, but Talon didn't seem to care about the impoliteness that Katarina or Cassiopeia would have.

"I'm stuck with you."

He repeated it like he needed to remind himself, and Lux thought he might actually have sounded upset, however mildly. Neither of them felt the need to speak after that, and they both sat there in an awkward silence while Lux fought to keep her eyes open and Talon took the occasional draught from his coffee.

If this is what the rest of the month was going to be like, Lux would end up offing herself long before any of the Du Couteaus would get the chance.

She did speak up after a while, still nervous that she was going to say something out of line, but marginally more comfortable doing it around Talon, since he didn't seem to put as much stock into pleasantries as his sisters did.

"Was there anything you wanted me to do?"

When she was staying with him yesterday, he spoke to her only once in the hours that they had spent in the training room, and it was strange to her that'd they exchanged more words in the past five minutes than the entire week he'd been in the house. He tilted his head back before speaking, draining the last of his coffee, and nudged the empty cup across the desk so that it was within her reach.

"Two sugars. Bring it to the same training room when you're finished."

Lux took the cup, still warm, and inclined her head.

"Of course."

* * *

Talon watched the girl leave the room, noting a drag in her steps that wasn't there yesterday. It was strange; she was clearly exhausted from the way she moved and the fact that it didn't seem to faze her at all that Cassiopeia had all but fired her, but there were no circles under her eyes, no unusual pallor to her skin to suggest that she'd spent the night worrying and not sleeping.

He added it to the list of steadily growing strangeness surrounding the maid, but otherwise didn't pay it any additional attention.

He was exhausted himself; Katarina had pulled another lead about the General from somewhere, but she was too busy trying to appease High Command and deal with her own problems to follow it herself. It'd been typical for Talon to follow these leads in her stead, and since he wanted to find the General with a desperation that almost matched Katarina's, he often spent several nights in a row looking instead of sleeping. Last night in particular, her lead had gone sour almost immediately, and he'd spent almost his whole evening hunting down witnesses instead of actually finding out anything remotely useful.

It wasn't simply frustrating for him or Katarina anymore; with the General gone, she was expected to adopt all of her father's responsibilities, which were almost all based in politics, and since Katarina was very much a person of rash action and not words, her frustration had quickly turned into a sort of depression that extended to all of the Du Couteau siblings, adopted or not.

They just dealt with it differently.

Cassiopeia locked herself in her room, toiling away at whatever struck her as important, while Katarina (when not obligated to be home) had taken to field work. He supposed it might have been cathartic for her, in a way, to stick a blade in a Demacian or two, and if he wasn't entirely opposed to hiring himself out or joining the army, he might have thought the same thing.

As it was, Talon had other ways of wetting his blade.

Like last night; he didn't know if he was tired or just foolishly desperate, but he'd asked too many questions and raised a few too many suspicions, and his thoughtless mistakes had cost him hours of time and several people their lives.

Almost regrettable.

It did mean that, although he wouldn't normally, Talon actually appreciated the fact that he had a reason to spend the day inside, even if he couldn't spend it asleep. His company excluded, it almost sounded nice.

He was still confused about why Katarina didn't just fire the girl; Cassiopeia didn't want her around (her furious tirade to them both the night before attested to that), Katarina didn't want her around, he himself certainly didn't. It was a mystery to him why his sisters did half the things they did, but not asking was usually more beneficial for him, even if it made him unhappy.

And having that maid around made him _very_ unhappy.

* * *

Lux took her time getting the coffee even though Marge watched her make it with a furious scowl on her face the entire time, and she really wished that she could have had some for herself. She'd drifted off twice while it was brewing, and she felt her sleepless night wearing heavily on her then, and she didn't have words for how she felt when she remembered that she was about to spend the day standing in a training room with an assassin that didn't want her there.

For the first time in her life, Lux missed Demacia.

She was walking on different eggshells there, so to speak; a misstep in Demacia could cost you your ranking or status, and it used to terrify Lux that she could potentially cost her family its standing if she didn't do everything she could for her country and do it right, but in Noxus, the same misstep could just as easily cost you your life. As it was for her right now, she would give anything to be a nobody in Demacia instead of a spy in Noxus.

They didn't even know.

Demacians didn't know that simply being tired on the job, if your job was being a maid for the Du Couteaus, meant that you could potentially end up dead. She doubted her family even knew where she was, and even though her commanding officers certainly did, they didn't care- as long as she did what she was told.

It was a strange feeling, to be away from home in the most hostile place you could imagine, and to know that you are entirely expendable; it was also strange to realize that Demacia felt in no way like home to her anymore.

A small beep distracted her from her thoughts, and Lux was grateful, almost, that the coffee was ready. She was eager to escapes Marge's unfriendly glare, and the sooner she started her day the sooner it would finish.

Hopefully.

She walked up the east wing staircase, cradling the hot cup in her hands and being excruciatingly careful not to spill it anywhere. She could already noises from inside the training room even from on the other side of the door, and she opened it slowly, not especially eager to disturb Talon while he had a knife in his hand.

Not just one, apparently; several.

They were different from yesterdays, a little bigger, and from the way they caught the light, sharper. He already had his hood hung on the wall and his sleeves pushed back, and the training dummy he was clearly aiming for was riddled with metal. Lux approached only when he looked up and lowered his throwing arm, silently handing the cup over and waiting patiently for him to finish.

He didn't look at her while he was drinking, not really, but Lux felt incredibly uncomfortable, like Talon was furious with her and was still deciding whether or not the knives in his hand were better suited to end up in a training dummy or Lux's skin. He looked away briefly, across the room, and Lux stole a glance at his face while he was otherwise distracted.

He looked miserable.

Coffee couldn't erase the lines under his eyes or the frown on his face, and when not actively drinking, his mouth was pinched in anger. Lux noticed it all with a quick glance that she managed to avert before he caught her looking this time, and she was grateful when he handed the cup back, all too eager to put some much-needed distance between them.

It didn't help her own sleepiness that Talon did the exact same thing as yesterday, alternating between throwing his knives and walking across the room the retrieve them. The whistle of air over metal, the quiet thump of a knife striking cloth, even Talon's almost imperceptible footsteps- they were all rhythmic noises that, while not soothing in any other circumstance except the one now, lulled Lux even closer and closer to sleep, until she was sagging against the wall behind her and her eyelids were drifting shut, much too heavy to force open anymore. Every strike of a knife was evenly spaced, a morbid sort of lullaby, and Lux…

Lux jerked awake when that thud was no longer across the room, and the sound of a knife burying itself into expensive wood paneling was right beside her left ear.

Her flinch upset the cup in her hand, causing some of the leftover coffee to spill on her dress uniform, and Lux looked up with a glare, first at the offending knife sticking out of the wall by her face, and then at Talon, who was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest.

She didn't know whose glare was more impressive- his or hers.

"I don't think you're supposed to assault the support staff."

It was one thing for Lux to imagine that Katarina or Talon were going to lodge something sharp in her, but it was another for one of them to actually _try it._ He didn't say anything right away, just watched her with a cool sort of anger, waiting for her to otherwise react.

She didn't.

Lux met his gaze evenly, unimpressed. She'd had much worse things than knives thrown at her before, things that had actually _hit_ their target, and if he hadn't caught her dozing off she doubt she would have flinched at all.

"I don't think you're supposed to be sleeping on the job."

He surpassed her sarcasm, which was a feat in and of itself, and her eyes narrowed in irritation. They had said hardly anything to each other, even this morning, and for some reason Talon decided on the way from Katarina's office to the training room that he was going to be inexplicably mad at Lux. She had no doubt that if Talon wanted to hit her, he would have, so the fact that he was only doing it to get a rise out of her, well… got a rise out of her. She was livid.

"Please excuse my less than satisfactory conduct."

She didn't say it as openly sarcastic as he did, but her expression supplied the attitude her voice lacked, and she might as well have laughed in his face.

"Sir."

She tacked the formality on almost as an afterthought, and Talon's gaze narrowed to the same slits as hers, his empty hand balling into a fist at his side. His eyes -so dark originally- were murderous, and Lux idly wondered if she was actually going insane. She had no reason for dropping the airheaded façade she had worn perfectly up until now, and she had no reason to openly taunt one of Noxus's most notorious assassins while he was holding a knife, literally _right_ after he had just thrown one at her. It was dumb, easily the most foolish thing she'd ever done and verging on suicidal, but she prided herself on the fact that she wasn't the one who broke the stare down.

Talon almost absentmindedly threw the remaining knife in his hand right next to the one still stuck in the wall, dangerously close to her face, only this time earning no reaction whatsoever. He moved to stride out of the room, his walk fluid as ever, and when he passed by where Lux was standing he hesitated, turning towards her with fresh anger on his face. He was standing closer to her than he ever had before, and she noticed, among other things, that his eyes weren't nearly as dark up close as they were from a distance. It was glaringly obvious how much taller he was than her now that he was effectively towering over her, but Lux didn't shrink back, and the space between them (even as little as it was) seemed almost nonexistent. He'd only paused to glare, and Lux was suddenly aware that both of her hands were curled into tight fists, just like his, one of them clutching the now-empty coffee mug painfully tight.

Talon reached up with one hand, not moving his eyes from hers, and ripped one of the knives from the wall, stowing it somewhere Lux didn't see and then continuing out of the room, offering a retort over his shoulder.

"You'll be needed in the kitchens for dinner. Don't be late."

* * *

He knew it.

He _knew_ the maid was weird.

He'd only wanted to scare her at first for falling asleep, but the girl had regarded the knife lodged so close to her face with something close to disdain, and more confusingly, disappointment, and that convinced Talon that he was right about her.

So he pushed her further.

When she answered him it was with a veiled sarcasm that was used by people usually too smart for their own good, contrasting so greatly with how dim she was at any other given moment of the day, Talon was tempted to again test his theory.

And that was when he threw the second knife.

She half looked like she expected it and half like she was welcoming the projectile; she didn't move, she didn't flinch, she didn't even look at the knife when it collided with the wall by her face, just stared at him with unmasked anger. He was struck with the intense desire to suddenly not be in the same room as her, and he had begun to leave, fully intending on storming out of the room and leaving her to deal with herself, but he couldn't force himself to just walk passed her and do nothing.

He had paused at her side, leaning over her, noticing the fists at her sides even though she tried to appear unaffected, and that nothing about Talon, the size difference between them, or the fact that he'd shown no reluctance when it came to throwing knives at her seemed to really perturb her. She had the strangest eyes -some kind of weird, bluish hazel- that burned with a quick anger, and free from their veil of feigned stupidity, they were almost dangerous.

It wasn't just weird anymore- it was suspicious.

Talon reached up, eyes still on hers, and jerked one of the knives out of the wall, rolling it between his fingers as he finally left the room. He yelled something over his shoulder, a warning for her not to be late for dinner preparations, but his mind was racing, and for the first time since the maid was dumped on him he was almost excited.

He was stuck with her, but that meant it would be that much easier to find out who she was.

* * *

Lux had royally screwed up.

After Talon had left the room all of Lux's anger had quickly faded away, and she was cursing herself for her stupidity the entire walk to the kitchen.

Why, _why_ did she do that?

She didn't think she had a death wish, and she didn't think she could attribute it all to her being just tired, either. Maybe it was the fact that Lux's pride had been stepped on in more ways than she thought possible in the past two weeks, or maybe she really _did_ have a death wish, and the fact that she was alive to consider either option was a miracle.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It would be impossible for her to convince Talon that she was just a simple-minded maid anymore, and if he didn't kill her before her assignment was over, the next week to be promised miserable at best and fatal at worst.

Just one week.

* * *

 _They came during the night._

 _It only seemed fitting that they would. It was easy for them to take her, because Lux was so complacent, so sure that she was safe in her own home that it had never, ever crossed her mind, not even for a moment, that it would be the place where her life ended._

 _They dragged her kicking and screaming through the house, men dressed in dark navy and black, so clearly Demacian that even though Lux was terrified, the sharp sting of betrayal is what she felt the most. They were quick to cover her mouth, with what, she wasn't sure, and even though she was now being muted by cloth, she screamed louder; she yelled for help, she yelled for her mother, she yelled for Garen… Lux begged and begged but no one heard her, and if they did, they ignored her._

 _She remembered struggling enough that somewhere down the spiral staircase leading to the bottom floor, one of the men carrying her tripped, momentarily releasing her, and Lux ran to where she'd left her new baton; if only she could get up the rest of the stairs, she could get to the baton and escape.  
_

 _She felt them at her heels like they were rabid hounds, and when they caught her this time they took no chances; they bound her struggling limbs, they pulled the gag tighter, and the last thing that Lux saw before they fit a blindfold over her eyes was a sagging, deflated balloon from her birthday party, still tied to the banister._


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: a fan- Thank you! It's like Spy v Spy, but everyone is sarcastic and they drink too much coffee._**

 ** _Antonio - a Fanfiction reader- Thank you thank you! I actually drafted this fic close to 6 months ago, and by now I basically have the entire thing planned out. I don't know what future update times will be like, but I won't run out of ideas ^-^ I plan on keeping the garen/kat in this fic really secondary, and I probably won't go into their relationship with a lot of depth. Sorry :(_**

 ** _GarenKat Fangirl- Thank you so much! ;-; I've read your review like a million times, because it was so nice and it made me so happy c: It's a lot of fun for myself to kind of flesh out Lux's past, and I'm always excited to think of new things for her. I never understood why they removed the League (League of Legends… and no… League?) so I've been stubborn and just include it in all of my fics anyway. Ahh I'm so excited to write more, and you're making me even moooore excited._**

 ** _Katarina is just very distracted, like you said; distracted with a lot of different things, and people…._**

 ** _Thank you again!_**

* * *

 _Lux didn't know where she was._

 _The room she was in was nondescript in every sense of the word; grey, decoration-less walls, no windows, only a bare wood table and the chair she was sitting in beneath a light fixed into the ceiling, and facing a dark grey door._

 _She was scared._

 _She'd never been more scared in her life, actually, and without the familiar touch of her baton she felt incredibly vulnerable. She could try to cast magic without it, but she didn't think she could produce any meaningful results without her baton. Lux wrapped her arms around herself, staring wide-eyed at the table, rocking slightly back and forth._

 _They_ _ **kidnapped**_ _her._

 _She was stolen away from her own home and no one had tried to help her, and the more Lux thought of the horrifying feeling of being lifted and dragged and blindfolded and too weak to fight back, the harder it was for her to remember that it was important that she remained calm. It took every bit of self-control the blonde thirteen year old had to simply sit at that table, rocking slowly back and forth while tears streamed silently down her face._

 _She didn't know how long it was before someone eventually entered the room, but when she saw who it was, a lot of the night's events began to make sense._

 _The tidy man that had replaced professor Gavins strode into the room, wearing a neat little suit again, still carrying that brand new briefcase. There was another man that followed him, someone Lux didn't recognize, but he was dressed in the dark blue of the Demacian military and such was his size that he dwarfed even the man in the suit; Lux thought that she would probably look more like a doll compared to him than an actual person._

 _The neat man didn't have a chair to sit on so he stood on the opposite side of the table as Lux, and she stared up at him with bleary, bloodshot eyes, the fear on her face raw. She'd known that the man was untrustworthy and disturbingly so, but she never would have imagined that he would resort to kidnapping her and attempting to force her into underage servitude._

 _It wouldn't work._

 _Her mother surely knew she was missing by now, and if she couldn't find Lux then Garen would. He was best friends with the prince; between the two of them and her mother, Lux wouldn't be there for long._

 _"My mother will come for me."_

 _She tried to sound angry and threatening, but Lux wasn't passed the fear yet, and her voice was rough and shaky and too quiet to convey anything other than that she was a scared child, alone and lost. The man stuck his bottom lip out at her in mock sadness, like he felt bad that Lux hadn't figured out something important._

 _"Oh sweetheart, don't you know?"_

 _Lux narrowed her eyes, lifting a hand to scrub at one cheek. She couldn't begin to fathom what he was talking about, but if it concerned her mother, she had to know. Her words tasted sour in her mouth, but she forced them out anyway._

 _"Know what?"_

 _The man smiled as if this was all some sort of joke to him, like the kidnapping of a child and the sight of her in front of him, crying and asking for her mother, were all wonderful, delightful things. He began to open his briefcase like he couldn't answer her without first reading it off of a paper inside it, and when he'd fished out what he was looking for he fixed his gaze back onto her, his smile now a sneer._

 _"Your mother is the reason you're here."_

* * *

If Lux thought it was going to be awkward spending forced quality time with Talon before, it was excruciating now.

He didn't bring her back to the training room again, which she was vaguely glad about, because even though the office was smaller and therefor more uncomfortable, it was also safer- there was a very noticeable lack of weaponry on the office's walls. They were currently seated across from each other, both silent, both glaring, the only movement being Talon when he occasionally sipped his coffee- which Lux had gotten for him.

Honestly, she didn't know what to expect.

She'd come close to leaving Noxus the night before, because she was genuinely convinced that her life had been in danger; why else would Talon have done what he did? It was only when she was back in her room and pacing the small quarters that she began to think rationally again, and it was obvious that she couldn't just disappear because Talon had made her nervous.

He was _just_ suspicious of her right now, and if she had left, there would be no more doubt for him. Lux knew that she could get in and out of Noxus without being detected if she had her baton, even by Talon, but getting to where she'd hidden it was one thing, and if he caught her before she got it, she was as good as dead. It wasn't just herself she was worried about either; there was always the chance that if she was ever caught that very valuable information could be pried from her, and it would put her family -not to mention the rest of the country- at risk. Besides- this was her job. It had been ingrained in Lux the second she was forced into the military that when a spy was deployed, they were essentially on their own, and that if they messed up no one was coming to save them. That was why Demacia's spies were painstakingly and extensively trained; there were only a few, compared to the hundreds that Noxus boasted, and they all had flawless track records, because they knew what they had to do and what would happen if they made even the smallest mistake.

And out of these few spies, Lux was, by bounds, the best.

It obviously helped that she was magically gifted, but Lux was also very smart and good at thinking on her feet; whether she liked it or not, she was forced into all kinds of high-stress situations, and it was because of her ingenuity that she had seen herself infiltrating High Command, the Du Couteau mansion, and the homes of countless other nobles successfully, and not for a second had anyone ever suspected her.

Not until now, at least.

It wasn't like her cover was completely blown; to Talon, she was suspicious, but she was still posing as a Noxian, and Noxians were almost all suspicious people. Since there was no way for him to know or even begin to suspect that she was from Demacia, he probably thought she was a thief, or something close to it that warranted his interest but not his blade.

He also seemed curious, which surprised Lux, because she didn't think that Talon was the kind of person that really cared about anything that didn't directly affect him; regardless of what she thought, he was still in that office with her, still staring her down like if he just looked at her long enough, all her pretenses would fall away and he could finally be satisfied.

Not likely.

She met his gaze evenly, unhooded today, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She wondered what he was thinking; did he see her as an actual threat, or as a mere curiosity? Did he plan on telling Katarina when she returned?

Was he going to kill her?

For now, she had no way of knowing the answer to any of those questions, so she patiently waited, hoping that she would still have some more time before yet another sleepless night made her doze off.

"You're not from the capital city."

He'd finally spoken, although quietly, and Lux gave him a half smile.

"Neither are you."

Even if Lux hadn't known some of his background beforehand, it would have still been completely obvious that Talon wasn't born into nobility. He didn't have a pride passed down to him from his parents, he had his pride because he'd killed everyone that dared to insult it, and there was a distinct difference between a respect that had been unrightfully handed to you and the respect that you earned. He was still an outsider, however, just like Lux was pretending to be, and it showed if you bothered to look closely enough.

He tapped a finger against the side of his cup, something Lux noticed he did a lot when he was thinking.

"You're not a very good maid."

He wasn't even trying to ask a question this time- he was just insulting her while he mused, and quite frankly, Lux was offended.

"I think that's a matter of opinion."

He tilted his head to the side, and laid the hand that had been tapping the desk flat against the surface.

"It's not an opinion if I'm right."

Lux narrowed her eyes, and fought to keep from crossing her arms across her chest.

"I got you your coffee, didn't I?"

And in such a timely manner, too. He hadn't even said thank you.

He gave a sort of grunt that might have been an attempt at laughter, but Lux couldn't be sure; she didn't think there was anything especially funny about the conversation, and she very much doubted he did either.

It was silent again as the two simply stared at each other, and Lux thought that, as impossible as it seemed, Talon was even more uncomfortable to be around when he didn't have his hood. Before you could only guess that he staring at you, but with nothing to veil them it was hard for Lux to focus on anything besides his eyes. They were sharp, almost eerily watchful, and Lux thought there wasn't a lot that Talon missed.

She wondered what he'd seen.

She had an entire backstory (perfectly crafted) about where she was from in Noxus, who her family -or lack thereof- was, where she served her military time and with who, but everything was fake. Talon was actually _from_ Noxus; he had a real story, and considering how dark the information she already knew about him was, Lux was filled with a morbid sort of curiosity about what she didn't know. For her own sake, however, Lux kept quiet; she didn't know the limits to Talon's patience, and after having just pushed it nearly to breaking the day before, she wasn't eager to risk his anger again so soon.

He seemed to know that there were questions burning just behind her lips and that she was unwilling to speak them, and his expression took on the barest hint of frustration.

It was an impasse, of sorts.

She couldn't speak and he didn't want to, and they spent an absurd amount of time sitting in a silence that was oddly becoming companionable. He hated her still, obviously, but he was also curious and self-indulgent, and therefor reluctant to just ignore her. As far was Lux was concerned, a staring eye contest in the office was preferable to mindless labor.

And there were probably worse people to stare at.

He didn't have any of the green-eyed, raw beauty that Katarina and Cassiopeia did, but Lux, funny as it seems, had always preferred clichés; tall, dark and handsome being the most applicable to her current situation. He noticed the change in her stare, however subtle, and for the first time in almost half an hour, leaned forward like there was something he wanted to say.

He'd hardly opened his mouth before someone walked into the office, effectively cutting him off and causing him to slump back in his chair like he was disappointed at being interrupted. Lux had turned around to face the newcomer, and upon realizing that it was Katarina, immediately jumped out of her chair, going to stand in her customary spot at the door. Katarina watched her with a confused interest at first, like she didn't understand why Talon had allowed her to sit at the desk at all, but she took the now empty seat without a word and only a minor huff of annoyance. She picked up Talon's cup, and after ascertaining that it was coffee, downed what was left.

"I wasn't finished."

Katarina shrugged, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You are now."

Talon raised an eyebrow like she wasn't _usually_ this sarcastic (which she was), and crossed his arms.

"You're back early.'

Lux didn't actually know where Katarina had been the past few days, and she'd been sufficiently distracted, enough so that it never really crossed her mind to wonder where she was. She looked so angry now though, and she unconsciously ran a finger over a dagger strapped to her thigh like the touch of steel alone could comfort her.

"Because Crownguard was there again."

She'd spit the words at Talon with a venom Lux had never heard from her before, but Lux didn't really have the time to analyze it; she'd choked a little, trying to disguise the involuntary noise as a cough, momentarily catching Talon's ever-curious eye before he looked back to the sullen Katarina.

Garen.

It'd been so long -so many years- since Lux had seen him last, and her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She listened to the conversation closely, desperately curious to know where Katarina had been now and what Garen was doing there, since she spoke of him almost as if she was familiar with her brother.

"I can't kill him and he goes _everywhere_ I do. There are a million different battlefronts for him to embarrass himself on, but he always chooses mine."

Lux didn't quite understand- Katarina was fighting on the frontlines? And not only that, but for whatever reason, she'd been faced with Garen enough to clearly despise him, and when she spoke his name she said it like it was a bad word. Lux wasn't sure exactly what she felt herself; nervous that someone like Katarina wished her brother dead, confused overall, but also filled with a bitter jealousy that surprised her.

Katarina saw her brother more than she did.

To top it off, Talon looked like he was about to smile, and Lux had trouble keeping her anger off of her face.

"Can't, or won't?"

Yes, he was definitely smiling now, although a smile for him was naturally such a subtle thing that you could almost miss it. Lux watched Katarina's expression, a little shocked to realize that it wasn't just livid anymore; she frowned even deeper, glaring at him with unconcealed hostility, but she couldn't hide the pink tinge to her cheeks.

"Fuck off, Talon."

Lux watched the entire exchange with an incredulous stare, and it was lucky for her that Talon was too busy watching Katarina to see the expression on her face, which was much, much too interested. He held up his hands in way of an apology, and Katarina took the opportunity to hastily change the subject.

"Cass left."

Lux wondered how many times in one day she could be completely blindsided.

Neither of them seemed as surprised as Lux felt; it was like they expected Cassiopeia to just up and disappear in the middle of the day, and from the way Katarina said the two words, Lux had the feeling that Cassiopeia probably wasn't coming back soon. Katarina herself seemed indifferent about it and Talon had back his typical look of disdain, like he would answer Katarina but only begrudgingly.

"Where did she go now?"

So it actually _wasn't_ out of the ordinary. Katarina shrugged, and Lux noticed that she looked much less embarrassed than he had a moment ago when they were talking about Garen.

"She didn't tell me this time, but she's been acting weird, Talon."

Talon pursed his lips, looking at Katarina like she was missing something obvious.

"I wouldn't know."

Katarina looked almost apologetic, like she was sorry for something that Cassiopeia had done to offend Talon, but neither of them mentioned it. Lux was grateful for the lull in conversation, because her head was still spinning.

Cassiopeia was gone.

She'd basically failed her mission so far, and now Cassiopeia wasn't even in Noxus anymore; Lux had nothing worthwhile to report on her, and she certainly wasn't allowed to leave Noxus to hunt her down. To top off Lux's dismay, Katarina had stopped talking about Garen and didn't seem inclined to start again, Talon's suggestive comment obviously making her angry.

She wished she knew where he was.

She didn't know Garen well and it had been just over a decade since she'd seen him last; she did a good job of repressing her childhood, but she was certain that she'd been fond of Garen when she was younger, but after being conscripted into the army she had been banned from seeing him.

Even now she was forbidden.

But Katarina wasn't; she was trying to kill him, obviously, but she was still able to see him, to interact with him, to know with certainty what he looked and sounded like. Lux ran a hand over her face, distracted enough that she missed it the first time Talon tried to get her attention.

"I'm sorry, what?"

They were both looking at her, Talon like it was no surprise that she was acting strangely, Katarina like she was annoyed that Lux had to be told to do something twice.

"It's dinner time. You can go."

A lot more time had passed than Lux noticed, and she numbly nodded her head, letting herself out of the room.

She didn't get very far.

Her legs seemed to fail her around the second floor, and she stopped to sit, the dark hallway of the west wing on her left. She cradled her head in her hands, thinking back to the expression on Katarina's face when she mentioned Garen. What had he done to make Katarina hate him so? And what did Talon mean, that she _wouldn't_ kill him?

Lux shook her head, lifting it from her hands when it occurred to her that it didn't matter. It didn't matter if Garen was in danger, because she couldn't help him, and she still wasn't convinced he needed help; he didn't lead the Vanguard for no reason. Besides- she was the one still in Noxus , and she was the one who was dangerously close to blowing her cover for no reason.

And she was the one who still had a job to do.

She glanced down the hallway that was as gloomy and deserted as ever, aware that at the end of it was Cassiopeia's room, now empty and abandoned. That was all the motivation Lux needed to get up and make sure that neither Katarina nor Talon had followed her down the stairs and to slink quickly and quietly down the hall. She was grateful this once that the hallway was so eerily dim and silent, and that the thick carpet masked any sound her footsteps might have made. Lux quickly found herself at the end of the hall, alone and with a familiar pounding in her chest.

Lux knew from experience that Cassiopeia's room was never locked.

The fact that she was always inside of it was usually enough to deter anyone from entering, and Lux tested the knob now, afraid that she had locked it before her departure.

She almost smiled when it turned easily, swinging open on silent hinges to reveal Cassiopeia's pitch dark chambers.

She didn't have her baton, but it was simple for Lux to just wave a hand, conjuring a small circle of twisting, turning light that illuminated even the darkest corners of the room. It was just as much of a mess as Lux remembered; most of the papers and all of the journals on her desk were missing, but her table was still laden with trays, and to add to the overall disorder of the room, there were now several articles of clothing tossed around haphazardly, like Cassiopeia had left in a hurry and wasn't sure what to bring with her.

Lux moved quickly to the desk, ignoring the rest of the room as she turned on the small desk lamp and extinguished her own light, plunging the room into semi-darkness once more. She sifted through a few small stacks of papers, dismayed to realize that most were blank; she went through every drawer in the long desk instead, but they were all picked clean.

Cassiopeia had been thorough, that was for sure.

Lux refused to be discouraged, but she couldn't snoop around for much longer before people started to wonder where she was. She looked more carefully through the papers now, examining every piece of dry parchment until she finally found something vaguely useful.

It was a piece of paper that was smaller than the rest and stuck to the back of a blank one, and there was only one small, faded glyph inked onto the surface. It was meaningless to Lux; it appeared to be the same language that used to cover everything Cassiopeia had on the desk, and Lux carefully folded the paper and stuck it down the front of her bodice, obscuring it from view.

It wasn't enough.

It was an abysmal amount of evidence that had taken her more than two weeks to procure, and she knew her commanding officers weren't going to be pleased. She turned to the rest of the room, a determined frown on her face. There was something here; there just had to be.

She ignored Cassiopeia's ridiculously sized bed that was covered in clothes that probably cost more money than Lux had ever had herself, moving instead to the small nightstand that stood by its side. There was an old food tray on the top, and Lux ignored it, leaning over and extending a hand to pull out the top drawer.

She must have been distracted.

Or maybe assassins just worked better when they were angry, because Lux didn't know Talon was in the room with her until his fingers were curled painfully around her wrist, twisting her outstretched hand and jerking her away from the nightstand. She lost her balance momentarily, stumbling into Talon's chest and backing away immediately, scrambling to put distance between them. The crushing grip he had on her wrist prompted her to cry out in her own voice, not Amelia's, and if she had had the presence of mind to be grateful, it would have been for the fact that Talon was too angry to notice.

She had never seen anger like this- she doubted she ever would again.

His grip tightened when her eyes met his, and Lux's face contorted in agony. If he twisted her wrist any further, he was going to break it.

Which might have been the least of Lux's worries right then.

There was no blade in his hand, at least not yet, but Lux waited for the sharp fire of steel splitting her skin, and she tugged against his hold like an animal caught in a trap. It was clear how much stronger he was than herself, and even though she still tried to free herself, she closed her eyes, not wanting to see when Talon decided to end her life.

All at once the terrible pressure against her wrist disappeared, manifesting instead as a shove against her back.

Lux opened her eyes, tripping as she fought to regain her balance. Talon had pushed her away from the nightstand and away from where he was standing, jabbing a finger at the still open door.

"Out."

She was too terrified to move at first, and she hardly registered the low word Talon had spit in her direction. Her wrist throbbed painfully and her heart was beating so loud that it was deafening, and when Lux finally came to her senses not half a second later, she didn't give Talon the chance to repeat himself.

Lux ran.

Out of the room, out of the house, and Lux wouldn't stop running until she was out of Noxus, weighed down by the feeling of eyes she couldn't see and the constant fear that should she ever falter, a blade would finally find its way into her skin.

* * *

He let her go.

It wasn't because she was scared or because he was unarmed, and he was certainly angry enough to want to kill her, but there was something about her -something about her cry of pain and the fact that even though she had struggled, she'd resigned herself to her fate almost immediately.

Talon tried to convince himself that it didn't make sense to kill her.

If he murdered every maid that had passed through this household and attempted to steal something at some point, nobody would ever set foot in that mansion again. It would have been pointless, a waste of his time and his effort, and it would have made a mess that he would have to explain to Katarina, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He repeated the words, trying to convince himself.

It would have been pointless.

Maybe he was right and it _was_ pointless, but now that Talon was thinking clearly again, he cursed himself for being so stupid. He couldn't just let her go, and when he thought about it, he didn't want to; the girl was bold, too bold for her own good, and her arrogance would cost the maid her life.

He didn't waste any more time changing his mind, and the only other stop he made in the house was to his bedroom; he quickly grabbed the cloak he usually wore, the one weighted by blades and colored like the night sky. He strapped a blade not connected to his cloak to his arm, and then left the mansion without telling Katarina where he was going.

Talon couldn't deny that he liked the excitement of a chase in the night, and as he abandoned the streets in favor of the low rooftops of Noxus, the thrill of this particular hunt made his fingers twitch, and he awaited the moment when he would finally cut down the infuriating girl.

* * *

Lux knew she didn't have a lot of time left.

It would be stupid of her to think that Talon would just let her go, even if that was initially his intention; a prideful assassin didn't just let people escape. She could have disappeared into one of the hundreds of subterranean streets where it would have been much harder for him to follow her and considerably safer with so many people around, but she'd left her baton above ground and didn't know her way around the tunnels beneath Noxus well enough to know where to surface. Because of this massive oversight, she was left to navigate the streets above Noxus, painfully exposed. She was moving fast, but she saw shadows in every corner and on every rooftop, and even the tiniest glint of light had her throwing up her arms to ward off blades that weren't there.

It was a wonder that she made it to her baton.

She figured that if Talon didn't find her first, her nerves would do her in, but she made it to the inn where her baton was stashed unscathed. The outside walls of the inn were made out of stone, and there was a baton-length section of the wall behind the inn where the stones were fake; Lux had made the hiding spot herself during her first deployment to Noxus, and for ten years it had survived.

It was dark, but the loose stones around the baton felt familiar, and Lux was tugging the smooth metal from the hiding spot almost immediately. She didn't waste any more time after that; she tossed the baton over her head, catching it easily, and all at once Lux vanished from sight.

Her relief was staggering.

She wasn't safe, not yet, but she could leave the capital city without anyone knowing, and soon after, leave Noxus entirely. She was constantly looking over her shoulder as she made her way down the mountain, but there was nothing for her to see, and soon enough the livable parts of Noxus were behind her, giving way to the slums and her way out of the city.

Lux didn't notice in her haste to escape, but there was a shadow that fell on her as she walked unseen down the streets of Noxus; the shadow of a murderous assassin who had lost his prey.

* * *

 _They trained Lux in solitude for weeks._

 _She had long since stopped asking for Garen, and aside from when she had initially arrived, she never asked for her mother or father again. Her fingers curled around her baton with a familiar fury, and her eyes stung painfully as she thought of her parents._

 _They'd disowned her._

 _She was a Crownguard in name so her parents could claim her achievements and future success as their own, but Lux was never going to be welcomed into their home again- not that she wanted to be. Her mother had planned from the minute Lux enrolled at the college to hand her off to the military, and every minute since then, everything she had said and done was with the intention of sending Lux off the first chance she got._

 _The thirteen year old had no words for the feeling that gave her._

 _She spent most nights in the windowless bedroom that she'd been moved to, clutching her baton to her chest and letting her tears streak silently down her face in the dark. She had no home, she had no family, and they'd told her quite clearly that Lux would be serving Demacia in Noxus, and the thought of ever stepping foot in the infamous city-state made Lux's tears flow faster._

 _The smooth metal of the baton in her hands was a steady, constant pressure, and the only comfort that Lux had left, but it couldn't erase the thoughts that tortured her, day in and day out._

 _No one was coming for her._


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: First off, thank you everyone for your incredible reviews! I was always nervous to publish this fic because I didn't think people would actually like it, but the feedback from you guys is amazing ;-;_**

 ** _A fan- Yeah, my other fics were pretty spur of the moment (you can tell by their nightmarish update times)._**

 ** _Caamds189- Ahh thank you! I have to say, dark Lux is by far one of my favorite characters to write. Ever._**

 ** _Antonio - a Fanfiction reader- Thank you thank you!_**

 ** _X0chu0x- Thank you so much ;-; you are too kind._**

 ** _GarenKat Fangirl- You leave the nicest reviews ;-; thank you so much! I am -so- excited to write future Lux/Talon interactions. I really did plan on keeping the Garen/Kat to a minimum, but the more I write the harder it gets… Cass is… somewhere :^)_**

 ** _Anthropomancy- Definitely, and since it's so open to interpretation (imo) I'm pretty much just running with it. I've read the judgements for Lux and Talon an embarrassing amount of times before I published the fic, and I didn't really know a lot about Lux before then; suffice it to say that her judgement was certainly a surprise, but I loved it. Thanks! Just give me some time, I'll screw something up._**

 ** _I should probably say that I -really- do not like to write about cities or travelling or stuff like that, because I'm lazy and I like to write about people. You'll notice it in this chapter and probably plenty more, so I thought I'd mention._**

* * *

 _Things never really changed for Lux._

 _At least, not significantly. She was trained, she was alone, she was miserable; her life seemed to be made of those three constants, and even her progressing skill with her magic did nothing to ease her growing depression. In fact, it almost made things worse._

 _The more Lux learned, the easier it became for her to do the things that her superiors wanted, and it only meant that she was closer to being moved from training to the field; she dreaded the day she would leave Demacia for Noxus, even though the tidy man (another constant in her life, regrettably) talked about it with a growing excitement._

 _She would die if they sent here there._

 _Wasn't that why everyone was so afraid of Noxus? Wasn't that why they were rivals? It was because the city-state bred murderers and thieves and wicked assassins; what place did a thirteen year old have on their poisoned streets?_

 _"You could save lives, Luxanna. There are thousands of people in this city who will never have to know the pain of a murdered family member, or the horror of war, and that will all be because of you."_

 _She didn't trust anything the tidy man said, not ever, but these words disturbed her more than anything he'd ever said. He truly believed what he said, that much was clear, and for a moment Lux was forced to consider._

 _If she could prevent people from knowing the fear that Noxus inspired, that crawled beneath her skin and woke her screaming in the night more often than not, shouldn't she? If anything she did now could prevent another gifted Demacian from being forced into the military before their lives had even started, wasn't it her duty -no, her obligation- to do everything she could to save nameless others from the same suffering?_

 _Lux's misery was such that the answer wasn't immediately apparent to her; she was angry and therefor spiteful, and she glared at the tidy man with all the fury could manage- and she had plenty._

 _"I don't care about anyone else in this city."_

 _The city didn't care about her, that was for sure, and he just sighed._

 _"You might care a little bit more when you're actually in Noxus. I think it's time."_

* * *

"I take it your deployment didn't go well."

Maddick- that was the name of the tidy man. His beard was all salt now, and a decade of stress and guilt and the knowledge that he was, at heart, a terrible person, had not treated him well. He sat across from Lux in a briefing room she'd been in countless times, windowless and grey, his lined face almost garish beneath the stark lighting and his ever-present briefcase at his side. Lux met his stare evenly, and answered truthfully.

"No."

"Did you return with _anything_ useful?"

There was a familiar disdain in his voice, like nothing Lux ever did was close to satisfactory, and she produced the only thing she was able to lift from the Du Couteau mansion- the wrinkled paper that she'd carried all the way to Demacia, like it was a great treasure.

"This was all Cassiopeia left behind."

He accepted the lined paper with a raised eyebrow that quickly turned into a disappointed frown when he realized there was only one letter on the entire page; it was clearly no treasure to him, especially since he didn't know what it had taken to obtain it.

"This is it?"

Lux didn't respect Maddick's opinion, never had, but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable because of the sheer amount of disappointment in those three words alone.

"I was compromised."

His expression held fear now; not for Lux's well-being, but for the possibility that their best spy would no longer be able to be deployed.

"Compromised _how?_ "

Lux thought back to her last night in Noxus, and the hidden bruises on her arm ached painfully. If she admitted how close she had been to having one of the Du Couteaus stick a knife in her, there was no telling how badly she would be reprimanded. Talon didn't know she was from Demacia; as far as Lux was concerned, this meant that her small… _confrontation_ with him didn't matter anymore. So she lied, sort of.

"Nothing serious; they thought I was a thief."

Maddick's face twisted and he jabbed a finger at Lux, and it took most of her self-control not to slap it away from her face.

"This is serious, Luxanna. This entire mission was a failure, and to top it off, you were almost caught."

"I'm sorry."

She wasn't really; she might have cared any other time, but Lux had never been as close to dying as she was the night Talon Du Couteau had suddenly learned mercy- as brief as it had been. If Lux was anyone else, she would be dead right now, and even if she told Maddick what had happened, she doubted he would care.

"It doesn't matter if you're sorry. You're removed from active duty until further notice; I'll contact you with the rest of your punishment when I run it by your commanding officers."

The feeling that she needed to be perfect and do everything she did flawlessly was still deeply ingrained in Lux, enough so that Maddick's words still made her feel like she had failed, and she couldn't completely erase the shame that weighed down her shoulders. It was a terrible thing to not actually care about failing, but to feel like you should.

"You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Lux left the room, subdued, and walked into the blinding sunshine that surrounded the block of military barracks. She'd never lived in the barracks herself; Lux's actual involvement in the military was kept mostly under wraps, and she only ever came to the barracks for debriefing after a deployment. She had an apartment closer to the Royal Palace, and she headed there now, cursing the heat and the distance she would have to walk.

And she still couldn't quite shake the feeling that loomed over her, like something bad was going to happen before she even got the chance to get home.

She'd been reprimanded before; not for failing a mission, but Lux was headstrong and had a wavering respect for authority, and growing up she'd been on the receiving end of more than enough punishments. It was nothing new to her.

Why then, did this one seem to hit her the hardest?

There was no obvious answer to her, and she didn't particularly want to dwell on it either; she walked through the ever-crowded streets of Demacia, and even though Lux usually liked to walk through the markets on sunny days, she was desperate to be home, and every time she had to pause to smile at someone who recognized her added to whatever feeling it was that was still weighing her down. She could see the Palace from anywhere in Demacia, and she kept her eyes on it now, grateful that it seemed to be getting closer.

The streets emptied some closer to the middle of the city, and although it wasn't quiet by any means, Lux appreciated the chance to let her smile fall. When she turned on to the street her apartment was on, she gave a small sigh of relief. It wasn't a very large building and Lux's room was on the second floor, a decent sized apartment that she shared with one other person. Demacia's spies didn't live in official barracks, but they _did_ live together, and Lux had been sharing an apartment with Quinn for quite a few years now.

Quinn's official title was ranger, but the government treated her the same as Lux, if with a little more respect and openness; Ranger wasn't a negative word, but spy was, and besides living arangements, Quinn and Lux were held to very different standards in the city.

Not that it mattered; Lux and Quinn were deployed so frequently and usually for significant lengths of time, and as a result neither of them spent any meaningful time in the apartment. Lux liked Quinn's company, however infrequent, but she hoped today that Quinn wasn't home. She still felt off after meeting with Maddick, and what she wanted more than anything was to be left alone.

A nap would be nice too.

She climbed to the second floor without seeing anyone, producing the key to her apartment and opening the door slowly, hoping that the relative silence of the building up until that moment meant that it was empty.

No such luck.

Quinn was sitting at the desk in main room of the apartment, scribbling away in one of the dozens of journals she owned and didn't glance up when Lux closed the door behind her. That didn't mean that Lux was safe from her questions, however.

"You're back early. What happened?"

She sounded distracted, but then again she always did, and Lux dumped herself on their sofa, laying her baton on the cushion to her right.

"Nothing happened."

Lux closed her eyes and relaxed into the couch, stretching her arms out along the top. She felt better already- maybe all she needed really _was_ just rest. The scribbling stopped and Lux heard Quinn's chair scrape over the wood floors, and then a few footsteps as Quinn walked over and moved her baton so that she could sit next to her on the couch.

"Nothing?"

Lux opened her eyes, a little annoyed that Quinn wasn't going to drop it.

"Nothing."

She hoped that would be enough, but Quinn just raised an eyebrow. She also raised a hand, using a finger to pull back the sleeve on Lux's right hand, carefully enough so that she exposed the purple bruises circling her wrist but didn't actually touch them.

"This doesn't look like nothing."

Lux slowly pulled her hand away, tugging the sleeve back in place and shrugging her shoulders.

"You're going to tell me you've never hurt yourself on a mission before?"

It wasn't like Lux wasn't somewhere incredibly dangerous; to her, it made more sense to return with a couple bruises than completely unscathed. Quinn shrugged, but Lux had the feeling that this wasn't going to be the last she heard about it.

"What about Maddick?"

Quinn didn't actually know that Maddick had forced Lux into the military (no one did), but she did know that Lux didn't like him, and through brief experiences with him herself, wasn't fond of him either.

"I'm removed from active duty."

Quinn cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips.

"You don't sound especially upset."

Quinn knew better than anyone what succeeding meant to Lux; a lot of her pride was rooted in her efficiency to do her job, but there wasn't even a frown on the blonde's face.

"I don't feel upset."

This wasn't something that Lux would ever admit to anyone else, but she really didn't; she didn't particularly want to be in Demacia right then when she had nothing to do, but she definitely didn't want to be in Noxus either.

Never again did she want to be in Noxus.

It made her stomach twist to know that she wasn't going to be kept off of active duty for long; before she knew it, Maddick would have her back in his office with another mission deep in the enemy city-state, and since she had failed to gather any significant intel on Cassiopeia, she was more than likely going to be put right back into the Du Couteau household under a different disguise.

"Are you okay? You look like you're going to throw up."

Lux shook her head, grabbing her baton from where Quinn had it resting in her lap and heading for her room.

"I just need to get some rest."

* * *

Lux didn't leave her room again for the rest of the day.

She wasn't hungry enough to want to venture out for food, and since Quinn didn't want to disturb her, she didn't have any other reason to leave. She dozed off a few times, but any significant sleep was held at bay by nightmares.

They were different now.

Dark as always, but every time Lux woke up, covered in sweat and on the verge of a scream, she felt like someone was there in the room, hidden by shadows but watching her every move. A few times she had brandished her baton and checked the room, but it was always barren, and she returned to bed, alternating between clutching her baton and running her hands through her hair.

It didn't make any sense.

This wasn't the first time she'd been hurt in Noxus, but it _was_ the first time someone had suspected her of not being what she appeared to be, and never before had she felt that her life was in immediate danger until the moment she met Talon.

She was alive because he allowed it.

She was here in Demacia, safely tucked away in her bed because for some reason, Talon had hesitated long enough for her to escape. To know that her life had very nearly been ended, simply on the whim of another, made Lux feel incredibly small.

Small and weak.

Her fingers tightened around her baton, running over the familiar designs of the metal curled around it. It did nothing to ease her discomfort as it usually did, did nothing to ease her dark thoughts or racing heart.

How did anyone stand it?

How did anyone come this close to death, literally staring it in its hate-filled eyes, and then return to their lives like nothing happened? Because that's what soldiers like her brother did; they fought, they died, and those that survived returned to the battlefields over and over until they couldn't anymore. And they did it all with a blind sense of purpose and an unwavering love for their country, a devotion that Lux had never been able to feel for Demacia before.

Demacia didn't deserve it.

It didn't deserve the loyalty of the men and women who served in its name, it didn't deserve their lives, and for those who survived- Demacia didn't deserve their forgiveness.

Lux wanted to be angry, but it was hard when she knew that most of those people -the soldiers, the other spies- didn't feel the way she did. They didn't think that they had been wronged or tricked or anything of the sort. They did what they did for their country, their families, for honor. Lux didn't have a family anymore; there was nothing honorable about being a spy, and her country… Lux didn't fight for a country that had sanctioned the kidnapping of a child for their own needs.

So what _did_ she fight for?

* * *

Lux didn't leave her bedroom the next day, or half the day after that.

Quinn brought her food occasionally, when she could get Lux to open the door, but otherwise let her be. As difficult as it was for her to see Lux wallow, it wasn't anything new; the blonde had been depressed before, although not to this extent, but she always had a way of working through it. Quinn knew from experience that simply bringing her food and being around if she should need her was enough.

Around midday of Lux's second day back home, however, Quinn was insistent when she came to her door, knocking until Lux was roused from her shallow nap.

"It's important, Lux."

She reluctantly threw away her sheets, padding to her bedroom door and opening it just enough to see Quinn's face. She was holding up a letter, already opened, the blue Lightshield seal still clinging to the outside. Lux rubbed her eyes, still a little groggy, but Quinn had her attention.

"What does it say?"

Quinn shrugged her shoulders- not an encouraging response.

"Basically nothing, but we're supposed to meet with the King at the end of the week."

They both knew how strange that was; the King only ever met with nobles and people who had high ranks in the military, and since Quinn and Lux were neither (at least for Lux, not anymore), it didn't make any sense why he would want to see them.

"Why?"

If the King had just wanted to see Lux, she could have convinced herself that it had something to do with her recent trip to Noxus, but the letter had requested Quinn's presence too. It was clear Quinn was just as confused as she was, and she shrugged her shoulders again.

"I don't know."

* * *

Talon was restless.

Ever since he'd lost that girl, he'd been angry, and no matter who he cut down in her stead, it wasn't enough. It had only been a few days, but already people were getting wary, and Talon noticed that when he was out at night now the streets were considerably more deserted.

Frustrating.

He was out again tonight with no particular destination in mind, roaming idly above Noxus' streets. There were a few people milling around, but no one that caught his interest, and the blade on his arm felt heavy, almost as if to remind him it wasn't being used.

"You seem a little distracted."

Clearly he was, or Kat never would have been able to sneak up on him. He didn't answer, hoping that his silence would be a sufficient hint for her to leave. Instead she came closer, close enough that her elbow brushed his when she gestured to where he was looking.

"Not in the mood to terrorize the unsuspecting townsfolk today?"

She couldn't see, obviously, but Talon rolled his eyes, trying to bite back his annoyance at her forced company.

"What do you want?"

Clearly she wanted something and wanted it badly if she took the time to hunt him down instead of just waiting for him to come back home. She elbowed his arm good-naturedly, her teeth flashing in the moonlight as she smiled.

"I have a job for you."

She said it like she was doing him a favor. Talon frowned; he was used to just taking Katarina's jobs as she came up with them, but he didn't want to be distracted with something else right now.

Not until he found her.

"Why can't you do it?"

She shrugged like it wasn't important, but Talon got the feeling she was upset; why, he didn't know. Not yet.

"I can't leave again so soon; Swain is getting frustrated. I don't want to annoy him if I can help it."

It was as good of a reason as anyone could come up with; there was no one Talon knew that would want Swain on their bad side, because that usually got you killed. Still, Talon felt like there was something else she was avoiding mentioning, like why exactly the job would have required her to leave.

"And?"

Katarina sighed, frowning at the streets below them.

" _And_ the person I need you to find isn't in Noxus. He's on a job."

Of course.

"On a job where?"

Talon really wasn't in the mood to leave Noxus, but it wouldn't be hard for Kat to convince him to do it if it meant being closer to finding the General.

"Demacia."

Talon glanced sideways, but Kat was studiously avoiding eye contact, and for good reason; she was asking an enormous favor of him, because it was dangerous to go near Demacia, especially on a shaky lead.

"No."

She looked at him now, her brows knit together as she prepared to argue.

"Please."

Not a very compelling argument.

"Why can't we just wait until he gets back?"

A job in Demacia meant the man was an assassin, and he was likely not to be in country for long; it would save Talon a lot of time and effort to just wait for him to return.

"Because he's an _idiot,_ Talon. He most likely won't be coming back."

If anything, Katarina's attempts at an explanation were only confusing him more. If she didn't expect the man to be able to off some fat noble in Demacia without getting caught, then there was no way he had anything to do with the General's disappearance. Katarina wasn't dumb, so this had occurred to her too, only she was still asking him to go hunt the man down.

Unless…

"Who's his target?"

She stiffened immediately, and Talon could that tell this was what she was trying to avoid. She crossed her arms, tilting her head downwards so that her hair hid her face.

"You know who it is."

Talon sighed, loud enough for her to hear, and pinched the bridge of his nose; this was getting out of hand.

"You're being ridiculous. I thought you wanted him dead."

She sniffed, indignant.

" _I_ want to kill him, not let some half-wit do it in his sleep."

Any other day, Talon might have stolen Kat's favorite catchphrase and just told her to fuck off, because there was no plausible reason why he should trek all the way to Demacia to save the life of someone he could care less about, much less someone Kat already planned on killing. What did it matter _how_ he died? Death was death, and Talon seriously doubted it mattered how it was delivered.

He could tell she was going to be stubborn about it; the fact that she actually asked him at all and also tried to lie about it initially spoke volumes, and it was almost disturbing to realize how important this was to her.

"This is stupid."

"I know."

She didn't even try to defend herself.

He didn't want to go to Demacia; every job he'd ever had in the city was boring, painfully so, and not worth the travel in his experience. He hadn't been there in ages, not since before the General went missing, and he never really planned on returning.

But even Demacia seemed vaguely more interesting than Noxus was right now.

The maid had completely disappeared. He'd searched tirelessly for her, but there was nothing to find; no trail, no evidence, no employer- nothing. Hunting down petty thieves was no challenge to him, and his constant frustration was starting to wear on him. At least tracking an assassin (one who he hoped wasn't as incompetent as Katarina said he was) might actually prove somewhat fulfilling.

He couldn't believe he was actually considering it.

Katarina was watching him carefully from the corner of her eye, not wanting to push him, but desperate for an answer. It was a longshot coming to him for help (at least, _this_ kind of help) but if there was anyone that Katarina could ask the favor of, it was Talon.

"I'll think about it."

They both knew that was as good as a yes, and even though she knew he wouldn't want her to, Katarina spoke quietly.

"Thank you."

* * *

 _Noxus was even more terrible than she imagined._

 _The nobles she was stationed with were dangerous, deadly people, and Lux had a hard time believing that the family was actually considered nobility. In Demacia, the term usually implied that the family was rich and extravagant, but used to paying people to do everything for them. Even Lux's family had been that way; she couldn't remember a day in her life that her mother had to lift a finger to get anything done._

 _The Du Couteaus were not like her mother._

 _Lux saw little of them because she only snuck into the mansion at night, but she knew enough of the General's young children to know that one day, they would grow up to be murderers and assassins and whatever else Noxus twisted them into, and this was only one family; there were countless others, and Lux couldn't imagine what chance Demacia would stand against such a brutal nation._

 _Noxus truly, deeply scared her, and Lux wanted, more than anything, to have nothing more to do with it, but since she couldn't, since this was her_ _ **job**_ _, Lux had come to the decision that there was only one option left to her._

 _To do her job._

 _To do her job and do it better than anyone else, because Lux had the ability to hurt Noxus like no one else. She could, potentially, save could save the children there that, like the Du Couteaus, would grow up to be soldiers and spies, nothing other than weapons and tools to be thrown at Noxus until one of them was the clear victor._

 _Lux could save them._


	6. Chapter 6

**_A/N-_**

 ** _A fan- oh my god, no LOL. Completely unintentional. His name started out as 'Cadvers' or something like that, and I didn't like it so I changed it to 'Maddock', but that sounds like paddock so I just switched out a vowel._**

 ** _Oh my god._**

 ** _Antonio - a Fanfiction reader-Thank you! ^-^_**

* * *

 _Noxus was riddled with secrets._

 _Every corner, underground or not, hid some sort of mystery, and even though Lux despised being in the city, she also loved to know things._

 _And there were many things for her learn there._

 _At fourteen, Lux had been in the household of every Noxian noble. She knew who had a drinking problem, who slept in separate beds, who had ordered the wine of another family poisoned._

 _At fifteen, Lux had been sent deep into High Command, slinking around in the shadows with her heart in her throat, her baton in hand. Every second she spent in that building she felt that at any moment she was about to captured and dragged away to be tortured and killed, but in the end, it was worth it; High Command held the most jealously guarded secrets in all of Noxus._

 _The information she found there helped stop a war._

 _Ionia's struggles weren't over, not by far, but Lux laid awake many a night interrupted by nightmares and tried to imagine the beautiful countryside that she was told Ionia was, and then tried to imagine it ravaged by war and death._

 _Wrong, wrong, wrong._

 _But she'd stopped it. She'd helped._

 _Lux saved them._

* * *

Lux had only ever met with the King of Demacia once before.

It was years ago and in secret, because the aging man had wanted to meet the prodigy that was Luxanna Crownguard, the poster child for the College of Magic and Demacia's most secret spy. Lux remembered the King closely resembled his son, and that he spoke little and nodded his head a lot. She remembered that at the time, she hadn't known what to say to him.

She didn't know now, either.

She and Quinn dressed nicely and made the trek to the Royal Palace together, all the while trying to guess what it was the King could possibly want.

"Maybe we're getting promoted."

Lux snorted. Not likely.

Quinn tapped a finger against her lip, vaguely following where Valor was in the sky with her gaze.

"Okay, maybe we're getting _de_ moted."

Now that was more likely, but considering how good Quinn was at her job, Lux highly doubted it. There was no one else on the road; for some reason, that unnerved Lux, and when they finally arrived at the palace courtyard she was almost squirming.

They were stopped by a few fancifully dressed guards outside, and Quinn brandished the letter they received the week before. The soldiers gave the piece of paper a cursory glance and then waved them in, and the clang of the courtyard gates closing behind them refreshed Lux's unease.

"I doubt they would bring us directly to the King if we were in trouble; there's a lot of authority between us and him. Relax."

Lux pursed her lips, slightly embarrassed. Quinn was right; the King wasn't the one who disciplined out of line soldiers, and Lux probably didn't have a real reason to be so uneasy. They'd even allowed her to bring her baton; she tightened her hold on it now, as if checking that it was still there.

They crossed through the courtyard and then into the Palace itself, and Lux let her eyes wander. It was very extravagant; there were intricate tapestries hanging from the walls, domed ceilings broken apart by skylights, and almost everything was covered in gold filigree. Even though the display of wealth was more excessive, it reminded Lux of the Du Couteau mansion, in a way; it was also covered in rare, expensive things that made it feel like there was nothing in the house you could actually touch. It made Lux even more uncomfortable, and she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to tuck her limbs as close to her body as she could manage.

If anything, Quinn was the exact opposite; she gazed at the wealth around her with a wide-eyed wonder, and as they walked she would occasionally point out something particularly eye-catching.

"How did they even get that statue _inside?_ "

Having Quinn around made Lux want to smile, and she was grateful for the momentary distractions she would provide; without her, Lux doubted she would have been able to make it through the Palace without being sick.

Lucky for her, they weren't walking through the Palace for very long before they were intercepted by another pair of guards that called them by name, and then told them they were to take them to the King. Quinn raised an eyebrow while they were walking behind them, whispering quietly to Lux.

"Our own escorts. Neat."

Lux laughed this time, if quietly, and she did have to admit that it was kind of funny- she'd never been escorted anywhere in the Palace before. It was a pretty good thing that they had the escorts too; they were led through hallways that twisted deep into the Palace, and Lux was sure they would have gotten lost on their own.

Well, maybe not Quinn. She never got lost.

It was longer before they arrived at the King's meeting chambers; it reminded Lux of Katarina's office, with two wide doors that evenly split the Lightshield crest. The woodwork was fancier here, as was expected, but Lux didn't have long to stare before each guard stepped to a door, slowly pulling it open and allowing Lux and Quinn inside. The chamber had a domed ceiling like most of the rest of the Palace, only the room was covered by painstakingly painted portraits that Lux recognized to be the Lightshield predecessors. There were dozens of portraits, and even though they were in gilt frames and painted with expertise, the amount of eyes that Lux felt following her around the room was unsettling.

She didn't focus on the paintings for very long; the King was sitting in the back of the room at a long, dark wood desk, a thin circlet of gold on his brow and dressed in finery that put what Lux and Quinn were wearing to shame. On top of the inadequacy she now felt, the King had sharp, watchful eyes that unnerved Lux more than all of the portraits combined. There was nothing malevolent in his expression, but Lux was still wary, and she felt that even Quinn's mood had diminished some.

The King wasn't alone, either; his son stood at his side, and Lux gave him a subtle nod when he caught her eye. They'd been friends for some time now, and besides Quinn, Jarvan was the only person that Lux really felt somewhat comfortable around.

Both Quinn and Lux were silent while they waited for the King to speak, and it wasn't long before he cleared his throat and waved a hand at where both of them were standing.

"Quinn and Luxanna; it's a pleasure to see you both again."

They both gave courteous nods, and the King continued.

"I asked you to be here today because the world is changing, and you will be instrumental in the future of Demacia."

Lux thought that the King meant to sound reassuring, or even flattering, but the vague way he spoke made Lux grip her baton tighter, and she saw Quinn stand a little straighter in the corner of her eye. It seemed that the King noticed their worried postures, and rushed to explain.

"I'm sorry- that sounded a little ominous, didn't it? I wanted to ask you both a favor, of sorts."

That made more sense to Lux; she was used to people telling her what to do.

"There's been an establishment gaining power for quite some time now, a powerful organization that wishes to bring about peace in all of Valoran. It's called the Institute of War."

Lux watched the King a lot closer now, sufficiently interested; she'd heard of the Institute, if vaguely, and she wondered what it had to do with them.

"It means to end the wars that threaten to tear Valoran apart. The heads of each interested country and city-state, myself included, have agreed to send a select few of our best and brightest to this Institute in a gesture of good faith. Each country that participates is forbidden from war, and is instead expected to use the Institute as a replacement."

It sounded more like a fantasy to Lux than anything else; how could this Institute expect to keep countries like Noxus from engaging in war? War was their lifeblood- they would never agree to something like this.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What countries have pledged themselves so far?"

If the King was offended by Lux's interruption, he didn't show it, and he turned his attention to her.

"So far, Demacia, Ionia, Bandle City, and Noxus. Piltover and Zaun haven't had the time to decide, and there are no current representatives for Bilgewater or the Freljord."

Lux must have looked incredibly dim right then, because she stood there without saying another word, blinking while the King's voice echoed in her mind.

Noxus. _Noxus._

Had she heard him wrong? There was no way the Noxians would involve themselves. The war between Noxus and Demacia was generations old, and there were feuds between families so ancient that no one living could even begin to remember how they started.

And if what the King was saying was true, the war would be over. Just like that.

The implications of what the King proposed were far reaching; if Noxus and Demacia were banned from war, then that meant all of the soldiers they had deployed, every spy stationed in enemy territory, _everyone_ ; they would come home.

Her brother would come home.

He wouldn't have to fight in the Vanguard anymore. He and his company wouldn't be on the frontlines anymore, and Quinn wouldn't have to take dangerous forays into enemy claimed territory, and Lux-

Lux would never have to go to Noxus again.

She felt weak all of a sudden, like her legs had turned soft and couldn't support her weight anymore. She reached out a hand and clutched Quinn's arm for assistance. If the King thought her behavior was strange, he didn't comment, and he waited patiently for Lux to collect herself.

"No more war?"

Her voice was soft, hardly carrying through the room, and her gaze met the King's unwavering stare.

"With the stipulation that each country has to have champions to fight for them- yes. No more war."

Lux didn't know what to feel, but one thing was for certain; she was very near to collapsing.

Quinn let her lean a little more heavily on her, and when it became apparent that Lux wasn't going to speak again, she asked in her stead.

"That's… amazing news, but I don't understand. Why did you tell us first?"

The King seemed reluctant to turn away from Lux, but he spoke to Quinn directly now.

"I wanted to ask you and Luxanna to be our official Champions, along with Luxanna's brother and my son."

Not even the mention of Garen could rouse Lux from her thoughts.

 _The war was over._

"That's an incredible honor."

Lux heard Quinn's voice at her side, but the words seemed fused together, and she couldn't really make sense of them.

"Do you accept? Garen Crownguard already has, as well as my son."

Quinn nodded eagerly and stood straighter, still supporting Lux's weight.

"Absolutely."

The King turned back to Lux, but before he could speak, Jarvan interrupted.

"What about you, Lux?"

Jarvan's voice seemed to brush away the haze clouding Lux's thoughts, and she looked up, meeting his familiar stare. He would be a champion. Jarvan and Quinn, her only friends, would be champions.

Her brother would be going too.

And if she refused? If she refused to fight in Demacia's name and instead chose to fade away into obscurity- safe obscurity, but obscurity nonetheless- what then? Lux wouldn't be deployed anymore. As long as the Institute stood, she would never again be sent off to Noxus disguised as someone else, she would never sit idly in the Du Couteau mansion, she would never sneak through High Command's halls, she would never be chased out of Noxus by an assassin that was after her blood.

Never. Never again. She would have nothing.

Lux dropped her gaze to the baton in her hands, the only thing she had ever owned with any degree of permanency. It hit Lux then that her life was entirely dedicated to the war; she grew up learning magic, and from the minute she turned thirteen she was pitted against Noxus.

Ten years.

Ten years spent fighting a war that was over in seconds.

Everyone watched as Lux leaned away from Quinn, lifting her eyes from her baton and back to the King, and everyone watched as she let out a quick peal of laughter so unsuited to the conversation that it made everyone's skin crawl.

"I accept your offer."

* * *

Talon was quickly reminded why he didn't like going to Demacia.

The entire city was surrounded by wet marshes and thick forest, and it provided assassins like him with countless numbers of places to hide, which meant that it was much more difficult than he initially anticipated finding the man Katarina had sent him after.

He had wanted a challenge, but this was pushing it.

Talon wasn't really a man of the great outdoors. He knew how to live off the land and he knew how to hide, but he didn't like it; he much preferred crowded cities and the orderly landscape of buildings to the haphazard layout of the wilderness. He was sure Katarina felt the same, which is probably another motive for her not wanting to trek out here herself.

Damn her.

He was fed up to the point of almost wanting to kill Crownguard himself, not only to spare himself the arduous task of hunting down his would-be killer, but to keep Katarina from getting caught and ruining her family's name. With the way she was handling things, it wouldn't be long before that happened.

Honestly, he didn't understand what allure the Demacian could possibly have for her, but he'd never claimed to understand the thoughts behind Katarina's actions before.

As it was, Talon decided to just do what she asked him so that he could return home. The sooner he found the assassin, the sooner that would be possible.

He knew he was close already because the assassin had left a clear trail of hardly-concealed camps throughout the woods. He was either inexperienced, which was most likely, or he didn't think that anyone knew he was there; the second option was possible since not a lot of people took jobs in Demacia anymore, but Talon was still leaning towards the first thought.

And if it was the first, it would make his job easier.

He'd been walking all day and the sun was rapidly approaching the horizon. He picked a good spot in the trees to rest, resolving to find the man sometime in the night; with any luck, he would make the mistake of lighting a fire, and it would be easier for Talon to find him then.

So Talon settled among the boughs and waited for nightfall.

* * *

After Quinn and Lux were dismissed by the King, Lux had bid Quinn a very hasty goodbye and abandoned the confused ranger with not a word explaining her earlier conduct. She hadn't really recovered yet; every time Lux's thoughts returned to the war with Noxus that was essentially over, she was struck with the intense desire to laugh, and when the feeling passed, she wanted to bury herself somewhere dark and lonely where no one would ever find her.

Instead, Lux ignored both feelings and walked away from the Palace, not stopping until she reached the edge of the city and the streets gave way to docks. It was a long walk and she wouldn't be home until well after nightfall, but the last thing that Lux wanted to do right then was go home, where Quinn was no doubt waiting to spring.

Lux walked along the bay, watching the last of the day's light glitter on top of the ocean waves. It was so deceptively calm, much like Lux herself, and it wasn't long before she couldn't stand to look them anymore. She turned away from the ocean in favor of the crowded marketplace, certain that there was somewhere in the busy city that she could lose herself.

It was more difficult than she thought.

Every face she passed, every man, woman and child- happy or sad, joyous or angry- would go home when the day was done, back to a family or a job or _something_. They would all be happy to learn that there would be no more war. They would all praise the champions sent by the King to represent them, and they would all sleep safely in their homes.

Lux hated them.

She hated every smile, every laugh, _everything,_ and she immediately began to regret leaving home at all. At the very least, Quinn was better company than the ignorant citizens of Demacia, and she would rather endure her questions than wallow any longer.

She immediately began to walk back home, regretting the distance she had come, and night had settled around her for quite some time before her apartment came into view. She couldn't see any lights on from outside, but she knew Quinn would be up; she doubted either of them would get a good night's sleep today. She walked up the flight of stairs leading to the apartment, hesitating at the door with her key in her hand.

There was no point in delaying.

She opened the door with a resigned sigh, and sure enough Quinn was waiting for her, sitting on the couch with Valor perched on the armrest nearest to her. They looked so similar that Lux almost laughed.

Almost.

Lux took the seat next to her without a word, laying her baton carefully across her lap, perfectly straight.

"You were gone for a while."

Close to two hours, if Lux's timing was correct- and it usually was.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Lux shook her head.

"I don't think so."

Quinn bit her lip and Valor twisted his head, peering at them with his left eye now.

"You don't have to say yes, you know. The King isn't forcing us- he's asking."

Lux knew that, and he knew that if she refused, the King would probably understand (he'd proven to be a reasonable man before), but that wasn't it; Lux didn't feel obligated to accept because of a sense of duty, or because she feared repercussions if she denied the offer.

"I can't say no."

Lux was who she was because of this war. Without it…

She was glad that Quinn didn't ask her to elaborate, because she didn't think she could say the words out loud. It was terrible, the thoughts running through Lux's mind.

It was terrible to have nothing.

* * *

Talon was in luck, somewhat.

He had guessed correctly; the man he was tracking evidently wasn't worried about being caught, because he lit a rather large fire that night, and the closer Talon got to it the heavier the scent of his meal became. It made Talon's stomach clench uncomfortably, but he ignored his hunger, his mind on the task at hand.

Find him. Kill him. Return home.

He'd spent the better part of a week away from Noxus, and he was sure Katarina expected him back soon- he was certainly not eager to extend his imposed vacation.

Talon moved carefully through the woods when he was closer, stepping silently through the night. Once he got close to a target he had this way of losing himself, and it was almost second nature to move through only the darkest of the shadows until the man's camp came into view.

It was hastily put together, and everything about the arrangement screamed novice. He was sitting by the fire that had been his downfall, holding his hands over the flickering flames and shooting the forest around him regular looks of uneasy fear. Talon almost wanted to laugh.

He bet that the man couldn't kill Crownguard even if he tried.

It made the entire trip seem like an incredible waste, and that made him angry; Talon descended upon the unsuspecting assassin before he had a chance to look up, and buried his blade in him before he had a chance to scream. He glared disdainfully at the blood now coating his blade, pushing the still-warm body away and flicking his arm in an effort to somewhat clean his weapon.

He gave the small campsite a cursory glance before he left, unable to immediately spot anything of value. He moved to patting the man's pockets next, searching slowly and thoroughly. Talon didn't have to steal to survive anymore, but people had a tendency to carry around important things when they were alone, and Talon wasn't disappointed.

He pulled out a wad of papers stuffed into the man's left breast pocket and unfolded them, turning towards the fire so that he could read the fading ink.

There were a lot of maps of the surrounding countryside and Talon thumbed past those, eventually uncovering a letter at the bottom of the pile that was well-worn, like the man had opened and replaced the letter every chance he got. There was a purple seal on the outside that was mostly missing, and Talon thought the edge of the seal might have been the wing of a bird- but he couldn't be sure. He pulled the letter out, careful not to wrinkle the thin paper beneath his gloves and slowly unfolded it.

There wasn't a lot written on the letter: a name that he assumed was the dead assassin's, a number that was probably his payment, and another name written larger than the rest.

Luxanna Crownguard.

Talon frowned at the letter, squinting to make sure he read it right. He'd didn't think he'd ever heard the name before, but it picked at him like it should have been familiar. There were other Crownguards? He turned the letter over but it wasn't addressed by anyone, and there was no other sign of the purple seal in its entirety. Talon tucked the letter into his cloak, tossing the rest of the papers into the fire and pausing only to wipe his blade on the coat of the fallen assassin.

Back home, then.

* * *

Lux and Quinn received another letter the following morning.

The King wanted to officially announce the pact between the city-states and the Institute, and in celebration of the closing war he was throwing some grand, extravagant ball that the champions, their families, and probably every family in a mile radius were invited to. Lux had to remind herself that this was a day most Demacians only dreamed of- the ending of the war would be celebrated for years to come, and this party would only be the first of many.

Lux must have been making a face, because Quinn was quick to comment.

"You don't have to go."

She didn't; it was an invitation, which meant she could refuse, but Lux knew she was, at the very least, expected to be there.

"That would be poor form, wouldn't it?"

Truthfully, the thought of attending a gala where her parents and Garen would be made her feel a little sick. As an unspoken rule, neither she nor Quinn talked about their families, but Quinn knew about Lux's distant parents and absent brother; she didn't know the specifics, but she knew enough.

"A lot of people will be there. You won't have to see them."

Lux sighed, running her fingers over the print on the neat invitation. It seemed so innocuous, but it made Lux's stomach twist in the worst way.

"I want to see Garen."

And she did, so badly that it pained her that she couldn't see him right away. She wondered what he was like; brave, no doubt, since she led the Vanguard, but what else? Was he kind? Was he happy?

Was he like her?

They weren't all questions that could be answered in one night, but the fact that the ban from seeing her brother was being lifted was more than she could ever hope for. She wanted to go.

She _needed_ to go.

Quinn laid her arm around Lux, squeezing her shoulder.

"You'll like him. Valor doesn't, but you will."

Quinn's comment -so strange, if it came from anyone else- made the corner of Lux's mouth lift in the tiniest of smiles.

"Valor doesn't like Garen?"

Quinn smiled widely, and the bird in question made a soft sound at hearing his name.

"Gosh, no."

She lifted her arm away from Lux so that she could gesture freely, and the animated look on her face was enough to make Lux truly smile- wide and genuine.

"See, Val has this thing about s _tubborn_ people…"

* * *

 _It wasn't long before Lux began to realize that she couldn't save everyone._

 _There were still hundreds of Demacians fighting a war that showed no signs of stopping; there were people she knew regularly planted in Noxus, their lives always at risk, and they were no closer to victory. It was frustrating, at first. Lux felt like nothing she did affected the war, like nothing she would_ _ **ever**_ _do would have an impact. It made her stays in Noxus torturous, and when she returned to Demacia, it was hard for her to look anyone in the eye knowing that she was doing her best and her best wasn't enough. She wasn't helping these people._

 _She couldn't save them._


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: Gra5s- The name of the fic sounds painfully familiar, but I can't remember reading it. I searched the name (spelled it a couple different ways, too) but I couldn't find it. I can only ever remember reading Lux/Talon stuff by Princess Garen, and a story piinkk is writing now. If you have a link, let me know! Thank you ;-; I always get so warm and fuzzy when people mention my Syndra/Zed stuff, and I feel like I'm cheating on them with this fic. Thank you again!_**

 ** _Ulcaasi- Same here, but not for Syndra/Zed. I will literally fight anyone who messes with that ship and pummel them with my tiny fists of fury. I've always been a fan of Ezreal crack ships, so Lux/Ez never really did it for me._**

* * *

 _"I want to see Garen."_

 _Lux was twenty years old, and yet she still finished the statement with a childish stamp of her foot. It seemed to have no effect on the tidy man, who she now knew as Maddick. He stared up at her from his office chair with a glance that said if she stamped on his wood floors one more time, he was going to get violent._

 _Lux wished he would._

 _"You know you can't."_

 _Lux's fingers curled painfully around her baton, and she shifted it slightly, just enough to seem threatening._

 _"Why? I do everything you ask me to."_

 _Maddick shrugged his shoulders, and Lux could already tell he wasn't taking her seriously._

 _"It's above my head, sweetheart. Nothing I can do about it."_

 _Lies, all lies. She bet Maddick kept Garen from her just because he wanted to, because he liked when Lux was miserable; there was no real reason why she shouldn't be able to see him._

 _"What do you think is going to happen? That I'll see him and immediately desert?"_

 _This caught his attention. Lux had been sarcastic, but there was nothing funny about her words to Maddick, and he narrowed his eyes._

 _"I said no, Lux."_

 _For a second, he thought she was going to do it; she'd lifted her baton arm halfway up her chest, and Maddick tensed, for once in his life actually afraid of the miniscule blonde._

 _But she didn't._

 _Lux jerked her hand back down with a frustrated scream, and then she turned on her heel, striding away from his office with a whip of blonde hair. Maddick stayed tense until he was sure she was gone, and then he relaxed into his chair, running a hand over his beard. He wasn't worried about Lux- this was a regular thing for her nowadays. She would scream for Garen, she would run away, but she never stayed gone for long._

 _Lux always came back._

* * *

It was weird for Lux to actually be doing something normal.

 _Dress shopping_ \- how strange. She was a little out of her depth, just like Quinn was, because they were both more accustomed to wearing armor, not chiffon, and it wasn't like you picked out your own military uniform; Lux and Quinn hadn't been shopping for something like a dress for themselves since they were children.

Lux pawed through the racks, frowning at every scrap of lace and every inch of embroidery. There were so many choices; how did anyone ever decide on something?

It took an hour and forty-two minutes, but eventually Quinn threw up her hands with an exasperated sigh.

"This is hopeless."

Lux was inclined to agree, and she briefly considered if they would let her wear armor to the gala.

Probably not.

"Okay, how about this- you pick my dress and I'll pick yours. We have five minutes."

To Lux, it was as good as an idea as any, and she accepted Quinn's challenge. Lux was a little dismayed to realize that it was actually harder to pick something for someone else; she didn't know what Quinn would be comfortable in, or what would fit her best, or-

Three minutes.

She picked through the racks quicker now, plucking something off it when it caught her eye.

Black, slinky- whatever. It was a dress.

She whirled around at about the same time Quinn did, and they both gave very similar sounding groans; Quinn was holding something bright blue and very sparkly, which Lux thought was a little overkill considering who it was for, and Lux was holding a considerably less amount of fabric than maybe she should have.

"Nope."

Lux reached out to grab hers, throwing both of the dresses over her arm.

"These are the ones. I can't spend another minute in here."

Quinn was far from happy -they both were- but she gave a grunt of approval.

"Agreed."

* * *

The gala was that night.

The approaching date had filled Lux with a weird mix of anticipation and dread, and she wasn't sure if she was grateful the night had arrived or horrified.

Closer to horrified, she thought.

She was home now, alone in her room, the dress Quinn picked for her laid out across her bed. It wasn't as bad underneath the dim lights of her bedroom, but Lux wasn't especially excited at the prospect of having to wear it for several hours.

The whole thing was ridiculous.

They were all expected to show up to this party like they were the happiest, most honored champions; they would all have to pretend that they were delighted to be shipped off to the Institute of War to mingle with Noxians that, up until a week ago, had been actively trying to kill them. Lux thought, quite bitterly, that it was easier for the other three than herself; Garen wouldn't have to lie about being the leader of the Vanguard, Jarvan wouldn't have to lie about being the prince, Quinn wouldn't even have to lie about being a ranger.

But Lux would have to lie.

She would have to look everyone in the face at that party, shake their hands, smile at their jokes, pretend that beneath her light mirages weren't the barely fading bruises delivered by a Noxian assassin.

Because she was Luxanna Crownguard, youngest to be accepted by the College of Magic. And that was it.

Not Luxanna Crownguard, professional spy and military veteran. Just a pretty, pretty blonde that had bright hair and a brighter smile. Lux unconsciously ran her fingers over her baton, just like she did every other time she was upset; even her most dangerous weapon, the weapon that regularly allowed her to sneak in and out of Noxus, was a pretty, decorative-looking toy.

Lux fell onto her back, settling into the pillows covering her bed and closing her eyes.

Maybe this is what she needed.

If she could get through the party (even as excruciating as it promised to be) she would be sent off to the Institute where there weren't people around that she had to impress anymore. She would be allowed to keep to herself, and Quinn would be there if she ever needed.

That didn't sound awful- not entirely.

Again, Lux was hit by the bitter feeling that was self-pity, biting back tears that made her eyes sting. She'd given everything to Demacia; her life, her happiness, her sense of self; why couldn't they give her one thing in return?

Why did she have to keep pretending?

* * *

It was just under a week before Talon was back in Noxus.

He didn't think much about the wasted time, because it had actually served as a decent distraction; he didn't think of the maid once when he was back in the city, and he was slightly eager to find Katarina.

She was at High Command the day he returned, which ended up suiting him well enough; the house felt incredibly empty without Cassiopeia, and it was nice having the hall to himself. He headed straight for his room, not bothering to close the door behind him and detaching the blade strapped to his arm, and then carelessly throwing his cloak somewhere in a dark corner. Not his best idea, since it was more than likely that it had scratched something important, but he was too tired to care; he fell onto his bed, burying his face in a pillow, and sighed deeply.

It was good to be home.

* * *

"Get up."

Talon was sure no one had actually spoken, because whoever it was was waking him up from some much needed sleep; surely they valued their lives more than that.

"Fuck, Talon, get _up."_

The last word was accentuated by a particularly sharp jab to the ribs, and Talon jerked awake, making a grab for whatever Katarina had hit him with and missing.

"Can't it wait?"

Crownguard's life wasn't in danger- Kat could wait a few more hours before she pried him for all the nitty-gritty details.

"No."

He sat up, rubbing his sore ribs, glaring at where Katarina was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Well?"

There was something in the expression on her face- she was chewing her lip, and already it was raw.

"Have you heard what Swain did?"

Talon frowned, and let his hand drop back to the bed.

"I _just_ got back, Kat."

That was her job anyway- she was the one who spent her time in High Command, most of which was spent with Swain himself.

"He's joined that Institute, the war thing; the war is over, Talon. We're not at war with Demacia anymore."

She said it like a lost little kid, like she was repeating a secret she wasn't meant to hear in the first place. Talon himself was having trouble digesting the words; the war was over?

That didn't sound right.

"He can't just end the war like that."

… right? That's not how wars ended.

Katarina just shook her head back and forth, ever so slowly.

"He did. He's bringing back the soldiers already."

Talon wasn't actually sure why she was so upset; it wasn't like she had a personal stake in the war, and had participated in it only begrudgingly.

"I don't understand. How did he convince everyone to go along with it? It's not like we wanted the war to end."

Not Talon personally, but Noxus as a whole; it was no secret that the city-state loved war, and any chance they got to prove their strength.

"They're scared of him. He's up to something, Talon. I can feel it."

Katarina still sounded haunted, like this was some great conspiracy, but she could be describing anyone for all he knew.

"So is everyone else in Noxus- Swain just has a little more power than the rest of us."

She shook her head, still perturbed.

"That's not it. He asked to see me today about the Institute."

Now Talon was slightly interested; what did Katarina have to do with it?

"To join the Institute, every city has to submit… champions -their word, not mine- to fight there instead of in all the wars. And since Swain joined, he's been considering people."

Talon didn't like where this was going.

"And he asked you."

She nodded her head but avoided his gaze, which was a sure sign that she'd done something he was going to hate.

"How many champions does he need?"

Talon spoke slowly, hoping that the answer was just two and that he could go back to bed.

"Four: himself, Darius, and he asked me today."

Fuck.

"And let me guess- you suggested me as the fourth."

She only nodded, and Talon groaned, rubbing both hands over his face.

" _Why,_ Kat? I've put up with a lot of your bullshit before, but this is too far."

Katarina bristled like he was being exceptionally ignorant, and hissed her answer.

"Because I couldn't say _no_ to him. He doesn't want us here in Noxus while he isn't, and I'd rather play along than die!"

Talon shook his head; that wasn't going to cut it this time.

"He doesn't care about me. If anything, he would want you to drag Cass there."

Katarina frowned, curling one of her hands into a fist.

"Why would he give a shit about Cass? She's had nothing to do with us since the General disappeared."

Katarina did a good job of keeping her voice level when she was upset, but she viewed Cassiopeia's distance as a betrayal, and it hurt her more than anything that Cassiopeia didn't seem to care about their father or their family anymore.

"I'm no more of a threat to him than Cass is. You're just dragging me down with you."

Katarina glanced up at him, fire in her eyes and fingers on a dagger attached to her thigh.

"My father has done a lot for you. The least you could do is come with me to the Institute; we could find something there, something that will lead us to him."

He knew Katarina was desperate, but even this was reaching; there was no reason to find anything about the General at the Institute, because he'd disappeared long before it was established.

It occurred to Talon that besides him, Katarina didn't have anyone else to rely on. Her father was gone, her mother was gone, and now Cass was gone, too. Talon was the only constant in her life, however loosely you used the word, and he didn't think she and Cass were ever as close and Katarina and himself.

The bonds created between assassins were strange, but certainly strong.

He didn't want to join the Institute, obviously, but put in Katarina's situation he probably would have done the same thing.

Or maybe killed Swain.

Regardless, there was no dragging himself out of it now. He could be pissed at Kat, or he could suck it up. And she was right, in a way; he was sure they wouldn't find out anything useful about the General's disappearance, but it couldn't hurt to be there and look.

"Okay."

They were both sufficiently uncomfortable, and by unspoken agreement they skipped speaking anything heartfelt that they might have been thinking. Instead, Katarina tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, quickly giving Talon a once-over.

"What about Demacia?"

Talon frowned, rolling out of his bed and rooting around in the corner of his room until he found his cloak, and then produced the letter he had lifted off of the assassin. He fell back to the bed as he handed the letter to Kat, asking while she examined it in the dim light.

"Did you know Crownguard has a sister?"

He watched Katarina's face carefully, and since she didn't seem very surprised, he guessed she did.

"Yeah, vaguely. She's a magician or something."

She pulled out the letter, reading the limited lines of script, and then turned it over like she expected more.

"The hit was for his sister? I only heard Crownguard, so I just assumed."

Talon might have made a jibe at her for her carelessness some other day, but he was actually kind of curious.

"Is she important?"

Katarina shrugged, tucking the letter back into its envelope.

"Not important enough to warrant that kind of reward. "

He reached out for the envelope, and Katarina promptly placed it in his hand. He turned it over so that the seal still somehow clinging to the paper was facing up, and nodded his chin at it.

"What about this? Recognize it?"

It was even more destroyed than when Talon found it, and Katarina shook her head.

"No."

They both sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes, musing to themselves, but the subject was quickly losing both of their interests; Katarina was relieved that no one was actually hunting down the Crownguard she cared about, and Talon just plain didn't care. He spoke up after a little while, still eager to get some sleep before the night was finished.

"When do we leave?"

Katarina looked a little guilty, which (for possibly the millionth time) made Talon uneasy.

"Monday."

Talon had lost track of days while he was out in Demacia, but he was certain that today was Friday; judging from Katarina's rueful smile when he groaned, he was right.

"Pack your bags, little brother."

* * *

The entire Palace courtyard was outfitted for the occasion.

The night was pleasant enough to keep the party outside, but it extended into almost the entire Palace, and nearly every hallway, ballroom or bedroom was packed full of Demacia's finest.

Lux felt strange that she was considered one of them.

It was just as loud as she remembered the parties her mother used to throw being, and the swirl of people in every color dress and suit you could imagine was confusing. Lux stuck carefully to Quinn's side, baton in hand, and they both tried to navigate the throng of people together.

And very carefully.

They were supposed to meet Jarvan and Garen sometime later that night so that the King could present them to the crowd or something, but Lux wanted to find him before then; she was filled with an excitement that made her bones ache, and she was lucky that she was with Quinn- the girl had the sharpest eyes she knew.

Still, the party was huge, and a lot of people stopped Quinn and Lux to chat; what were they doing, where they were going, could they get them a drink…

It never stopped.

They'd made it about halfway through the courtyard and Lux's face already hurt from smiling, and from the look on Quinn's face, she wasn't faring any better. If there was any comfort, it was that the courtyard was especially beautiful this time of night. There were parts of it covered in gauzy tents that sheltered food and refreshments, but a lot of it was left bare to the night sky, and the stars above them fought to keep up with the thousands of fairy lights strung above their heads on invisible wires. It was the perfect place for Lux to lose herself, normally; the play of light around her was certainly distracting, but she was on a mission.

Find Garen.

With Quinn's help, she made her way through the crowd, fighting across the courtyard until they were inside the Palace itself. It was more packed inside, and the room that opened to the courtyard was connected to the ballroom; if Lux stood on her toes, she could just barely see people dancing over the hundreds of heads that separated the room.

Finding Garen was starting to seem pretty daunting.

Still, Lux was determined, and Quinn wouldn't let her quit anyway. They worked across the room, exchanging pleasantries and admiring fancy jewelry, and they even spotted the King briefly; he lifted his hand in way of greeting but was swept away almost immediately. They'd been at the party for nearly an hour, basically searching person by person until Lux and Quinn needed to take a break. They moved to the ballroom, because the massive space that was open to dancers was ringed by Palace employees with starched uniforms and crisp white gloves handing out water and other refreshments.

Quinn and Lux gratefully accepted the water, sipping from the cups as they surveyed the new room. The dancers were pretty mesmerizing to watch; no two pairs were dancing in tandem, but the uncoordinated twists and turns added to the allure, and Lux found that if she watched them too closely she began to get dizzy. Lux smiled at the sight, nudging Quinn with an elbow.

"It's pretty amazing!"

Quinn nodded eagerly, and while she was distracted Lux took the chance to admire the dress she picked out for her; it was smooth satin and all black, and it was accented with more than a few low cuts and sheer slits. Quinn wasn't comfortable, that was for sure, but she definitely looked incredible. Lux nudged her friend again, a wide smile on her face.

"You look beautiful."

Quinn opened her mouth to respond, but the voice that answered was definitely not her own.

"So do you."

It was deep and warm and kind, and reminded Lux of days she'd buried deep in her mind; late night light shows, sliding down stairway banisters when no one was home, the taste of homemade cookies and the familiar touch of a hand ruffling her hair. Lux whipped around, her hair mostly likely hitting Quinn in the face, and there he was.

Garen was everything and nothing she imagined, all at the same time.

He was tall and handsome, with short brown hair like she remembered, but he was proud too, and he had the aged face of a soldier who had seen too much.

Perfect. He was perfect.

Lux didn't know what she looked like to him -like a fairy, probably, with her shiny baton, sparkly dress, and golden hair- but she didn't give him a chance to really look. She launched herself from Quinn's side, jumping into Garen's waiting embrace and wrapping her arms around his neck, careful to hold the baton a safe distance away. She was probably choking him with the way she clung to him, but he didn't complain, not once, and whispered into her hair.

"I missed you."

Lux laughed, halfway between crying out in joy and just plain crying. Garen set her down carefully, holding her at arm's length as if to better examine her.

"You're huge, light bulb- you're probably the whole lamp now."

Lux laughed again, and then she actually did start to cry, so Garen tucked her carefully under his arm and led her away from the party. It took quite a bit of walking, but they eventually found a living room of sorts that was empty and they settled onto one of the couches, Lux still using her free hand to hang on tightly to one of Garen's.

There were so many things she wanted to say.

She wanted to tell him everything she'd seen and done over the past ten years, and she wanted to know everything _he_ had seen and done, and just-

Everything. She wanted to know everything. But there was something she wanted -needed- to say first.

"I asked for you."

Lux whispered it even though they were alone, and she repeated herself to make sure he heard.

"I asked for you every day when they took me, and when I was older I asked for you again, but you never came and they said-"

Garen was shaking his head, his face tortured, and he leaned over to gently enfold Lux in his arms again.

"I know, Lux. I know."

She sniffed quietly into his suit for a while, sure that she was ruining it and also incredibly embarrassed that she was actually crying, but unable to force herself to stop. Lux didn't think she would ever see Garen again. She'd convinced herself years ago that Maddick and everyone else would keep her separated from her brother until one of them died, and it tortured her every day that she was missing something so important.

She eventually pulled away when she was a little calmer, and Garen reached over, gently running a thumb beneath her cheek to wipe away some of the tears that lingered there.

"I'm so sorry. For everything."

She wanted to tell him that she knew it wasn't his fault, that she forgave him, but she couldn't form the words, and her lip started to tremble again. He seemed to know that she couldn't speak, not then, so he supplied the conversation for her.

"So we're champions now; I think that's pretty amazing. It feels so surreal for the war to just… end."

Lux could hear it in his voice; he was someone whose life had been entirely commanded by the war also, and as terrible as it was, he was reluctant to let it go. It wasn't easy to forge a completely new identity with such little time to prepare.

Lux nodded, and encouraged by her response, Garen continued.

"I'll miss the Vanguard. I felt important there, and they were like family."

Lux wondered what that felt like.

She didn't want to spoil the moment so she kept her mouth shut, but Garen didn't miss the expression on her face, and his own contorted in response.

"Are you… are you happy, Lux?"

She could lie. It was already on the tip of her tongue, perfectly crafted, and she could deliver it with ease, if she wanted to; she'd done it a million times before.

"No."

Such a quiet whisper, but so heartbreaking, and Garen couldn't begin to imagine the suffering she needed to fuel that one word.

"It's… dumb, maybe, certainly naive of me, but I want this to be a new start. I can't change anything that happened…"

He hooked a finger underneath Lux's chin, lifting it gently so that she had to look at him.

"But we have a chance here to build something new. I want you to be happy, more than anything."

It wasn't his fault, what happened to Lux, but he would never stop trying to make up for it.

It was easy for someone as hopeless as Lux to be tempted by his words; a new life where she could live with Garen and be happy- it sounded like a very nice fairytale, but to consider it reality was a very dangerous thing.

Lux had nothing.

She felt so empty, and Garen's words promised her fulfillment and things she didn't think she would ever earn the right to have. He wanted more for her than misery and deceit.

And didn't she owe it to herself to at least try?

It would be easy for Lux to remain the way she was, barely functioning and depressed, but that would be wrong. That would be giving up, and Lux couldn't give up before she even gave this new life a chance.

So Lux smiled, first at her baton and then at Garen, reaching up to wipe away the last of the tears still clinging to her skin.

"I want to be happy."

* * *

The gala ran deep into the night, and never once did Lux see a waver in the party.

There were always dancers, singers, and performers, there were people on their first glass of wine and some on their sixth, and there was an endless line of people that wanted to meet the new champions for themselves. Lux never strayed from Garen's side and eventually they found both Quinn and Jarvan, and from that point on they were all reluctant to part. Quinn seemed to notice Lux's uplifted attitude and the genuine smile that curved her lips, and there was a moment during the night that Quinn wrapped her hand around Lux's, giving it the smallest of squeezes that conveyed something she might never be able to correctly put into words.

 _You deserve this. I'm happy for you._

Towards the close of the evening, the stage in the ballroom was cleared of singers and the champions were asked to replace them, and one by one the King introduced them, pride coloring his tone the entire way through. It was lost on none of them that Lux was introduced as exemplar of the College, but this night in particular, it didn't bother her like it would have any other day. Even the knowledge that her parents were somewhere out there in the crowd, watching her as she stood next to Garen, didn't deter Lux from smiling her brightest smile at everyone gathered. Tonight, she was Luxanna Crownguard, prodigy of Demacia, proud sister of Garen Crownguard, and newest champion of the Institute of War.

Tonight, she was happy.

* * *

Noxians didn't celebrate. They got drunk.

The night before they were scheduled to leave, Katarina cracked open a bottle of the General's finest whiskey, breaking the seal with a sigh of regret.

"He would kill us."

And well they both knew it, which Talon thought made the whiskey taste all the better. He let Katarina pour them both a generous sized amount in clean glasses, and when they were both satisfied, Katarina raised her glass.

"To servitude."

Talon nodded- that felt fitting.

"To servitude."

* * *

 _It was late when Lux finally returned._

 _Her room was unlocked, as she knew it would be, just like Maddick knew she wouldn't actually leave._

 _Because she couldn't._

 _Lux sighed at her ceiling, feeling her eyes sting but wrestling the uncomfortable feeling until it was sufficiently subdued. She wouldn't cry- not this time._

 _What was the point in shedding tears for someone who probably didn't even know you were suffering? And what good would it do her to continuously ask for Garen, anyway? It wasn't like he had the authority to release her. If anything, Garen coming to see her now would be an awful, awful thing; he would know she was miserable, and there would be nothing he could do to stop it._

 _Lux didn't ask for Garen anymore._


	8. Chapter 8

**_A/N: I wanted to update this sooner, but I've had a rough couple of days, and if I write when I'm sad then there's a good chance I'll kill off someone important, and then everyone would have to read a Lux/Talon story without Lux or something. I think that after this chapter though, updates won't be every day anymore because this is the part of the story I've planned the least, but what I'm most excited to write, so I don't want to rush it. I also have a lot of art projects and stuff I want to finish, and those take gosh darn forever._**

 ** _But anyway._**

 ** _Anthropomancy- I think you jinxed it, lol._**

 ** _Antonio - a Fanfiction reader- If only she knew :(_**

 ** _A fan- Thank you c: I have a few things about their relationship kinda planned out, because Garen is such a funny, dopey kinda guy, and he's fun to write. Thanks again! I know right? Bring on the fluff! Also thanks for linking the fic!_**

 ** _Caamds189- SAME. It's killing me ahhh. Must. Write. Fluff. Thank you so much ;-; it's honestly the highlight of my day when I read reviews like this._**

 ** _Lainychu- Thank you!_**

 ** _Gea5s- LOL. Unfortunate. Thank you. It seemed like a lot of filler, but it was important in showing everyone's attitude towards the league, Lux and Garen meeting again, and some other stuff that'll be important later on. The flashbacks aren't really core to the story I suppose, so yeah you're not missing anything probably. Yup I remember the fic now, and I've read all of what's there. It wasn't my absolute favorite, but I remember being really happy when I found it because no one else had written a fic with Lux characterized that way before, and I thought I was really weird for imagining her that way._**

 ** _Ulcaasi- Thank you! I think you know more than anyone how much I like fluff. I am absolutely dying that I haven't gotten to any Lux/Talon yet._**

 ** _Tri-Color- Thank you so much ;-; I will definitely be posting more, so no worries._**

 ** _GarenKat Fangirl- I'm pretty fortunate to have a decent amount of free time, which means lots of time to write! I have to say that writing what the Demacians do and the Noxians do side by side is soo much fun, since they react so different. Garen is more fun to write than I initially thought, so I'm having lots of fun developing his relationship with Lux. Just lots of a fun all around, actually!_**

 ** _And this needs to be said- I actually love you. Your reviews always make my day, and thank you so much for all you compliments ;-;_**

 ** _Anyways! Thanks everyone for following/liking/reviewing, and I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

 _"I don't want to live with anyone else."_

 _Lux might as well have been speaking to a wall; Maddick waved a hand at her, dismissive as ever, and Lux tried to fight back the part of her that wanted to break his hand every time he did that._

 _And he did it a lot._

 _"It's not up to you."_

 _Nothing ever was._

 _Sure enough, when Lux returned to her apartment that night there was someone there; she was tall, friendly, all warm words and big smiles. Lux almost didn't notice the navy colored eagle perched on her couch, something she acknowledged with a very small bit of interest since that exact species was supposed to be extinct._

 _The girl -Quinn, she was told- was holding a hand out in greeting, and Lux stared at it until she awkwardly let it drop._

 _"Well, anyway, it's nice to finally meet you."_

 _Finally- like this was something Quinn had been expecting for some time. With the way Maddick took pleasure in inconveniencing Lux, she guessed that might actually be true. She left Quinn by herself then, hiding away in her room with sullen, bitter thoughts. Quinn could live there because there was nothing she could do about it- fine._

 _But Lux didn't have to like her._

* * *

The Noxians made sure to be at the Institute first.

It might give them some kind of advantage to have the lay of the land, so to speak, and none of them wanted to be around when the Demacians got there; that was one confrontation that, by unspoken agreement, everyone wanted to avoid.

Talon and Katarina traveled there together.

Swain wasn't in charge of them at the Institute, but he'd instructed them where to be and when, and after that left them both to figure it out the rest for themselves. It wasn't a long journey, considering how far they'd traveled for jobs before, but there was a palpable relief when the building actually came into sight. They wouldn't admit it, but the building was beautiful in a new, untouched sort of way, and Talon walked up the marble stairs leading inside with the feeling that he would probably have to wipe his feet before he was allowed in.

Katarina didn't seem to share the feeling; she tramped inside with an irritated huff, giving the summoners that greeted them a shifty glance.

"They're creepy as hell."

Talon was inclined to agree; besides nodding at them while they walked past, the summoners said nothing and never moved, and it was incredibly unsettling.

They didn't see Swain or Darius when they arrived and they certainly didn't want to go looking for them, but they weren't even given the option. Once they stepped foot in the foyer of the Institute, a summoner stepped apart from a small group that greeted them, the hood of her robe left to rest on her shoulders. She was the only one who wasn't wearing it, and it gave Talon and Katarina an easy view of her face. She was middle aged, if Talon had to guess, with wire-rimmed glasses and her light brown hair pulled into a neat bun on the back of her head. She inclined her head when Talon and Katarina paused, and spoke with a smile.

"Welcome to the Institute of War. I'm High Councilor Vessaria, and if you'll follow me, we can get started."

The assassins shared a loaded glance, but with a shrug, Katarina stepped forward; she was already creeped out, so what was a little more weirdness?

She led them a little deeper into the Institute, gesturing now and then as she walked and acting as a tour guide, of sorts.

"You're free to go anywhere in the Institute, but I must warn you; the chambers beneath the Institute are home to champions less… acclimated to society. Not all are here of their own volition, and if you choose to visit them, you do so at your own risk."

Again Talon and Katarina exchanged glances, and again they remained silent while they followed Vessaria. She pointed out training rooms, mess halls, a grand library, and several other rooms that Talon didn't remember or didn't catch when she mentioned them; he gathered that the west wing of the Institute was for general recreation, and the east wing was living quarters.

"Each city-state has their own section of the wing, but again, you are free to use the Institute as you please. There are very few rules you must remember, but there is one you will abide by always."

Vessaria stopped when she said this, turning to Talon and Katarina and speaking with a gravity that her voice hadn't held earlier.

"Never are you to harm another champion. The Institute was erected to bury old feuds and bring about peace; to disrupt it is punishable by death. I take it you understand."

She probably expected them to answer, so they nodded, and Talon thought it was a little ironic that the peace Vessaria spoke of was enforced by death penalties. If she noticed the look on Talon's face, she didn't mention it, and walked passed a few more splits in the hallway until finding the one she was looking for.

"This is the Noxian division of the east wing. I will take one of you to receive your judgement, and the other may make themselves comfortable until they are needed."

Talon and Katarina were both equally tired, but Kat gave him a superior smile and spun on her heel, striding down the hallway with her parting tossed carelessly over her shoulder.

"Talon volunteers."

He didn't have time to be annoyed because Vessaria started to walk back the way they came, keeping her back to him and staying studiously silent. It unnerved him the way the judgement was treated; Katarina was eager to prolong the time before hers even though she had just as much of an idea of what was going to happen as Talon did, and Vessaria spoke of it almost reverently.

It made him very confused about what to expect.

Confused, and if he was inclined to admit, nervous; they looped back to one of the hallways they had passed before, and here Vessaria stopped, her gaze now entirely focused on Talon.

"I go no further. Your judgement awaits you."

Talon's hand clenched beneath his blade, but he said nothing, and continued down the hallway alone. There were no doors along the walls except for one at the very end of the hallway, plain and unmarked by denotation or decoration. He didn't hesitate to open it, entering the completely dark room and closing the door behind him.

Immediately he was greeted with the heavy stench of sewage and rotting garbage, and even if the room hadn't begun to lighten, Talon would have still known exactly where he was. Although he expected it, he couldn't help but be surprised by the detail with which the illusion was presented to him; the abandoned pipe beneath Noxus was just as he remembered, and even clearer, and there was a haggard crate in the corner that he knew would be basically empty, a few tattered blankets, and two painfully thin children. One of the kids was reaching towards the belt wrapped around his waist, and the other was watching every move with a steadily increasing anger.

Talon's stomach clenched with a phantom hunger the longer he watched his younger self, painfully thin and small, and he'd never known until that moment just how close to death he'd been.

But he knew all too well how close Kavyn was.

The other boy was holding something up in the faint, flickering light that was all a small pile of burning garbage had to offer. Although meager, the light caught the edge of two dull blades, almost as if the metal was begging to be seen. Kavyn handed them to Talon, unwisely turning his back and prattling away as Talon ran one thin finger down the edge of a knife.

Shoddy. Brittle. Basically useless.

The sight made the expertly crafted blade now sitting on the assassin's arm feel heavy, and he watched with an eerie wonder as the younger Talon's face changed from a thirsty curiosity to hardened determination. His technique was sloppy and slow, embarrassingly so, but Kavyn was unsuspecting and weaker even than himself. The ridiculous blades, in Talon's hands, made short work of the other boy.

Talon watched, unmoved as Kavyn's blood flowed over his hands, onto the floor, running in rivulets to the open end of their pipe where far below, the refuse of Noxus churned. He knew what would happen next. He knew how heavy Kavyn would feel, how warm the blood was, the sound his body made when it disappeared; everything Talon could recall with a painstaking clarity.

If the summoners were trying to unnerve him, it wasn't working; he did not think of Kavyn's death with regret. It was necessary.

The young Talon turned away from the end of the pipe, crossing his bloodied arms and studying the grown assassin where he still stood in the middle of the room.

"My intent is to understand, not to unnerve."

Doubtful.

"Why do you wish to join the League?"

He didn't, but Katarina had made a very fine point to him the night she volunteered him.

"I owe a debt."

The skinny boy before him cocked his head to the side, pursing thin lips and narrowing dull eyes.

"Du Couteau is gone. Your debt is gone with him."

The summoner disguised as himself spoke truly; anyone else in Talon's position would probably have abandoned the Du Couteaus when Marcus disappeared, joyed to have freedom, but Talon was different. Freedom meant little with nothing to drive you.

Talon tilted his right arm so that his blade caught the dim light, and ran a finger along its length.

"A weapon is the most valuable thing you can own in Noxus, but they serve little use if they don't have a purpose. I joined the League to find a new purpose."

He looked up, a little shocked to realize that the illusion was fading away, along with the smell, until Talon was standing in a wide, empty room with one purple robed summoner. Talon couldn't see the summoner's expression, but she twisted her hands together like she was pleased at having seen into his thoughts.

"And how does it feel to have your mind exposed?"

Talon was at her side in a flash, sharp steel pressed to purple fabric. The summoner was disturbingly calm, but Talon noticed a stiffness to the way she stood that filled him with a modicum of satisfaction.

"Unpleasant. Necessary."

And with the quiet sound of his cape moving through the darkness, Talon was gone.

* * *

The Institute was nothing like Lux imagined.

Actually, she wasn't sure what she thought it would be like, but she couldn't deny that she was impressed; the building was stark white and enormous, shaped much like the Royal Palace in Demacia with domed roofs and high arches. It hadn't taken them long to actually reach the Institute, for which Lux was glad; the Demacian champions were all nervous about the lives they were about to start, and that made for long, silent stretches during the travel that were sufficiently awkward for everyone.

The Institute was met with great relief.

Relief, but more than a fair share of trepidation as well, and not only for themselves; no one knew who the champions from Noxus were, and Lux caught herself wondering more than a few times if it was someone she knew.

Someone she spied on.

It was more than likely since Lux's targets were high profile, and although she wasn't eager to be living in the same building as them, she was curious to know who the Noxians elected. Or rather, which Noxians had taken the positions for themselves.

None of Lux's travelling companions seemed curious enough to voice their questions aloud, so they approached the Institute, travel-weary and silent, full of hope and fear and anticipation.

There were wide steps leading to two massive front doors, and at the top of the marble path were two people shrouded in purple robes that covered everything from their eyes to their feet.

Summoners, Lux was told.

Their precise function wasn't clear to Lux, but from the little information she was told, she gathered that they were players, almost, and that Lux and every other champion were the pieces to the game. It sounded a little twisted when she phrased it that way to herself, but Lux thought it was fitting; the Institute seemed like a naturally twisted place to her.

The summoners that greeted them stayed outside, but there were more waiting just behind the doorway; one unhooded woman detached herself from the orderly group, giving the four Demacians and their bird a light smile.

"Welcome to the Institute of War. I'm High Councilor Vessaria, and if you'll follow me, we can get started."

She looked a lot more… _normal_ than Lux would have imagined the people underneath the purple hoods to be, with tidy hair and a neat little smile. Something about her prim appearance made Lux think she wasn't as calm as she let on, but she led them all through the institute anyway, naming each room they passed. Lux committed them all to memory, especially interested when she pointed out the library. The entrance was recessed and a good walk from the hallway they were walking down, but Lux could see two grand, wooden doors, carved with a pattern that she couldn't make out from her distance.

If she ever felt like leaving her room- she would go there first.

As it was, all four of them were exhausted, and the knowledge that their tour wouldn't be over until they finished their judgements was a reminder that weighed heavily on all their shoulders. Vessaria eventually led them to a split in the hallway, gesturing to the continuation at her left.

"The Demacian section of the wing is down this hallway; you can all get settled while the first judgement is ongoing."

Since Vessaria didn't ask anyone specifically to come with her, it was assumed that someone would have to volunteer; Jarvan was stepping forward, the obvious first choice, but Lux cut him off.

"I'll go first, if that's alright."

Quinn was the only one who didn't really seem surprised, and Lux avoided Jarvan's eye as she moved closer to the Councilor. Vessaria inclined her head towards the opposite hallway, and when the rest of Lux's grouped had moved away she spoke.

"You continue alone. I will remain here until your judgement is finished."

Lux nodded, gripping her baton with a familiar tension as she continued down the abandoned hallway. Up until this point, everyone had treated the judgement like it was a terrible, ominous thing; no one knew what to expect, and not even Lux had been able to scrounge up any useful intel on the process itself. She felt out of her depth, a spy without information, and she came upon the door at the end of the hallway with her stomach in knots.

It seemed innocuous, but first impressions were rarely anything to go by.

Lux's hand hesitated above the doorknob for a few moments, but she was tired and curious, and eager to put the judgement behind her. She pushed open the door, and the sight that greeted her was nothing like she imagined.

The room was bathed in an almost painfully bright sunlight, which struck Lux as very odd; she continued a little further, unable to help but to feel comforted by the light, and after a few steps she realized why it was so incredibly strange.

Judging on where Vessaria had led the group, the room shouldn't have any windows.

Lux looked at the light around her now with a wary eye, the room entirely concealed. It was interesting that she wasn't able to see through the illusion, and it must have been very powerful magic to trick even her eyes into believing it was real.

As she continued on the silent journey, the light faded some, revealing more and more of the scene around her. She was in the foyer of her parents' home, which actually _did_ have windows, and the sun was streaming through them now, catching on her baton, the bannister of the winding staircase, the tiled floors. Lux felt a compulsion to continue, and when she placed her foot on the first step of the staircase, the sunlight around her dimmed. She raised an eyebrow, climbing slowly upwards, and with every step Lux took the light faded a little more, and when she was at the top of the stairs it had entirely disappeared, leaving the house bathed in an inky darkness broken only by thin beams of moonlight.

There was a hall at the top of the stairs that split the bedrooms, and again Lux felt something -or someone- guiding her to the left, towards where her own bedroom was. She approached the door even slower now, her feet dragging, because Lux had an awful feeling that she knew where the illusion was headed.

Her door was undecorated, slightly ajar, and Lux pushed it the rest of the way open, freezing in the doorway.

Lux used to have a room with a balcony that had wide glass doors looking out on the city; they let in a healthy amount of moonlight now, clearly illuminating the golden hair of the sleeping child in Lux's bed.

Lux was staring at herself.

It was strange to see herself from an outside perspective, and so young too; her hair was shorter, her face peaceful, and everything about her younger self screamed innocence and ignorance. Lux approached with a grim sort of curiosity, fear making her heart pound and her mouth dry. She raised a hand when she was at the bedside, almost as if she wanted to brush a few strands of blonde hair from the young face, but her gloved fingers disobeyed her; she reached over, clamping her hand over the girl's mouth, and smiling at the fear-filled stare that met hers when she jerked awake.

The reflection she saw in those eyes was a man with a salt and pepper beard where Lux should have been, a man who smiled wickedly at the petrified child.

Lux wanted to jerk her hand away in surprise, but she couldn't control her muscles, and the mirage child carefully peeled away the fingers over her mouth, calm now, and staring at the real Lux with eyes that were dead and unseeing.

Lux thought she might be sick.

"Why do you want to join the League?"

It was hard for Lux to find her voice, especially after hearing her own, so young and quiet. Still, she forced herself to speak, even though she wanted so badly to run from the room.

"For Demacia."

That would be the answer they all gave, at first; Jarvan and Quinn, she and Garen- they were here at the King's invitation. They were here for Demacia.

Young Lux wasn't satisfied.

"Why do you want to join the League, Luxanna?"

It was pretty obvious that there was no point in lying any further, and suddenly Lux could move, falling to her knees before the mirage.

"Because I have nothing."

She didn't even have her own memories anymore. The child smiled, reaching towards her with a small hand that she placed ever so gently to her cheek, speaking with a voice that was now a stranger's, matronly and comforting.

"Welcome to the League."

* * *

Katarina found Talon when her judgement was finished.

The Noxian wing was excessively large, especially since it was currently only housing four people, and they had both picked rooms a considerable distance away from each other, and hopefully, away from Swain and Darius as well. She didn't knock, exactly like she wouldn't have at home, then plopped down on Talon's bed and mirrored the way he was laying down with his hands behind his head.

"That was fucking weird."

Talon snorted, the image of himself covered in Kavyn's blood once again swimming through his thoughts.

Weird, indeed.

He wondered what Katarina had seen, but they were under strict orders not to speak about the judgements to anyone. She wasn't anxiously fiddling with any of the knives strapped to her person, so Talon could safely assume that it wasn't too traumatizing.

"What do you think of the place so far?"

Talon didn't know if she was actually interested or just trying to lessen some of her own unease, but he shrugged as best he could in his current position.

"I don't know. They're expecting a lot more people to join, aren't they?"

It seemed that way, at least; the Institute of War was massive, and the sixteen people that the city-states had provided didn't even begin to make a dent in the housing provided.

"Makes sense. Amnesty, notoriety, a chance to fight whenever you want… I bet that sounds attractive to a whole bunch of people."

Talon didn't answer, not right away, and Katarina asked a different question.

"Have you seen the Demacians yet?"

Talon shook his head.

"No."

He'd gone straight to find a room after his judgement, and hadn't left it since.

"What are your guesses?"

Talon didn't actually know a lot of Demacians outside of the ones he had killed, and he frowned slightly at the ceiling.

"The prince for sure… probably Crownguard too."

There was no way the King _wouldn't_ send the prince, and Garen was held in pretty high esteem in Demacia. Aside from them, he was at a loss.

"Laurent, maybe? I don't think there's anyone especially outstanding in the other houses."

Katarina seemed inclined to agree, supplementing little to the short list.

"Vayne?"

Talon didn't think so; he knew very, very little of the last Vayne, but he didn't think she was the type of person that the King would handpick to join the Institute.

"I don't think she even lives in Demacia anymore."

Katarina smiled, but rolled off the bed and straightened her jacket, evidently done with guessing.

"I'm tired. See you tomorrow?"

Talon nodded, not looking away from the ceiling as she let herself out. This room was bigger than the one he had at the mansion; the bed felt too wide, too comfortable, and it wasn't long before Talon began to feel restless. He rolled off his bed and fastened his cloak around his shoulders, and then left his room with the intent of stretching his legs until he got tired or lost.

There were signs placed intermittently on the walls so Talon didn't actually think the latter was going to happen, but he almost hoped it would; he didn't want to return to his room, but none of the places he passed sounded interesting.

Training rooms, bathrooms…

He wasn't in the mood to train, and he'd left his blade behind regardless, so he kept walking until he found something that vaguely caught his interest- the library.

Talon wasn't big on recreational reading, but he liked quiet places, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to wander around the rest of the Institute at night. He walked the short distance to the library doors, which were both considerably taller than he was, stretching nearly a foot over his head. He ran his fingers over the raised woodwork, following a million different designs that never seemed to end. He laid his hand on the handle of the door and gently pulled it open, surprised by how heavy it actually was. The door swung open on silent hinges and fell closed just as quietly behind him, and Talon stood in the doorway, very close to awe.

The library had an arched roof that extended an absurdly long way above the room, and although he couldn't see anything clearly because of the distance, he could tell that almost the entire ceiling was painted with the same kinds of designs covering the door. The room was circular and very, very deep, and the entire floor was covered in bookcases that ended around three feet over Talon's head at their highest, and a foot at their lowest. Most of the book cases were set up in orderly rows, but they were packed tightly and interspersed with smaller ones so it was impossible to see through them- it reminded Talon a lot of a very crowded and very dark forest. There was a few feet of empty space between the door and the first bookcase, and he crossed it, almost eager now to explore.

Once inside the forest of books, it was a lot harder for Talon to keep track of where he was. The bookcases blocked a lot of the light in the room and a lot of the aisles were narrower than the others, and it wasn't long before Talon was sufficiently lost. He stopped moving and turned around a few times, hoping the catch a glimpse through an aisle of the way out.

He only succeeded in further confusing himself.

He picked a direction that seemed lighter than the others, weaving through the books a little faster than before, slightly uneasy that he didn't know where he was going. The feeling didn't sit with him for long, because he was quite suddenly free of the maze, although not where he wanted to be. He was in a small clearing of sorts where the bookcases circled three large armchairs, and the two facing him were empty. The other was mostly turned so that a lot of the back was facing where Talon was standing, but whoever was sitting in it had their hand over the armrest, fingers tapping against the side of the chair.

They didn't know he was there.

Talon was pretty tempted to not say anything and just risk the maze again -because how long would it _really_ take for him to find his way out- but it only took a second or two of consideration, because he was tired, and he took the first step towards the chair with the intention of speaking up.

"I _told_ you I didn't want any help-"

The voice coming from behind the chair was very feminine and high, but exasperated too, like the girl in the chair had repeated herself several times already and was getting angry that she was forced to do so again. The girl in question leaned around the edge of the chair, glaring at Talon with more anger than he thought a face like hers could possibly possess.

She had long blonde hair that swung with her movement, and it caught even the library light (dim when it filtered through the bookcases) so much so that in certain spots, her hair looked more like spun gold than anything. Her delicate brow was knit into a frown over two very blue eyes, and even though her expression was close to murderous initially (disturbing amid those features) it fell quickly, until Talon was sure that what replaced the anger was fear.

Talon moved with the intention of stepping forward, since he was still a good distance away from the chairs, but the movement drew the girl's eye to one of the blades at the bottom of his cloak, and she wasted no time in springing up, disappearing so fast into the maze of books on the opposite side of the clearing that if Talon had blinked, he would have missed it. He frowned at the direction she went in, but didn't move after her; he approached the chair, but she hadn't left anything behind except for a few books on the floor, and Talon left the little alcove behind, trying his luck with the maze once more.

He'd thought the summoners were strange, but he didn't think they were skittish too- the blonde summoner was certainly in the wrong line of work if even the brief sight of Talon scared her away, and he almost felt bad for when she would eventually be faced with Swain and that unnatural bird of his.

It took Talon damn near another twenty minutes before he found his way back to the entrance of the library, and after he was finished cursing the library itself, he cursed the blonde summoner and the fact that because he'd spent so much of his night lost, he probably wasn't going to get near as much sleep as he wanted.

He might actually hate the Institute already.

* * *

Lux's judgement hadn't really told her anything she didn't already know.

She already knew she had nothing- that was why she was here at all, because Garen and the Institute- they promised her _something._ So she wasn't actually very upset, but when she returned to the Demacian wing (they'd all gotten rooms in the same hall, if not next door) she'd gone to her room without much of a word to either Quinn or Garen, trying to decide why she still felt so off.

She didn't think that it was because they'd forced her to relive the kidnapping; it was a regular setting in her nightmares, although nowhere near as vivid, and she'd seen it so many times that by now she was almost desensitized.

Almost.

The vision still picked at Lux while she unpacked her clothes, the only things she'd brought with her from Demacia. The room she had the Institute wasn't like her apartment or her parent's house; everything was varying shades of grey, and the room itself was like a minuscule apartment. It had a kitchenette that let into a very small living room of sorts, and a door to the right of the entrance that let into the bed and bath. Lux liked it, aside from the dreary coloring, and even though she was tired from the day's events, she didn't feel like staying inside. She grabbed her baton when she was finished putting away her clothes, leaving the apartment and heading to the only place in the Institute that, besides her apartment, interested her at all; the library.

They had only passed by it briefly when Vessaria was showing them around, but Lux remembered that path she would need to take to get there. Demacia's library had been one of the only places Lux was allowed to go to when she was younger, but it was also her favorite; there was something comforting about being surrounded by knowledge, and having the silence to enjoy it.

She didn't see anyone on the way there, for which she was grateful, and she entered the library with nothing more than a cursory glance at the door. She was much more impressed by what was inside; it reminded Lux a lot of Demacia's library, only confined to one story, with towering bookshelves that fit together snuggly. You could probably get lost in the aisles, if you weren't careful.

The thought excited Lux.

She could probably spend the rest of her life in the library and not even begin to dent the sheer volume of books, and that made the prospect of staying at the Institute for any extended length of time a little more exciting. Lux's eyes trailed over a few different paths into the bookcase maze, but before she could pick one she favored, somebody appeared at her elbow.

She hadn't noticed the summoner when she first entered the library, but the room was clearly large enough to hide one person in a purple robe, and Lux waited for the summoner to speak.

"Champion Luxanna- welcome to the library. Is there anything I could assist you with finding?"

It was pretty late in the evening so Lux was surprised that there was still a summoner watching over the library at all, and even though the summoner sounded kind and eager to help, Lux really just wanted to be left alone.

"No, thank you. I can manage on my own."

The summoner just nodded and drifted away, moving through the shelves with a sense of direction. Lux watched where she disappeared into, and then entered the maze herself, carefully picking a spot very far away from where the summoner had gone.

It was almost dark between the bookcases; enough light to read by, but dim enough that if Lux had been there during the day, it would have still felt like dusk. Lux picked a path through the aisles, and occasionally stopped to pick a book off of a shelf, choosing more because of how the book looked than what it was actually about. It was a tough process; the majority of the books on the shelves were practically pieces of art, with decorated spines and flowing calligraphy covering the fronts. Lux was quick to gather an armful, and as she was heading back towards the entrance she was stopped by yet another summoner.

It wasn't the same one (he was taller, and much wider through the shoulders, with the tip of a beard edging through the shadow cast by his hood) but he didn't seem surprised to find Lux wandering through the library alone.

He didn't say anything, like the other summoner did; he just waved for Lux to follow him, and she did so reluctantly, afraid she'd broken some unknown rule of the library already. She was surprised when he led her deeper into the books, and eventually they came to a spot where the bookshelves parted, creating a small clearing where there were three very large chairs circling a tall, thin floor lamp. It looked very cozy, hidden away as it was, and as Lux picked a chair to her liking and set her books down, and she turned back to the summoner.

"Thank you."

He nodded but didn't immediately move away, even after Lux had settled into her hair and opened the first book in her pile. She glanced more than once out of the corner of her eye, and he was still there, standing silently over her. It was unnerving the way he lurked, and Lux turned around, giving him an irritated frown.

"I'd like to be alone, if you don't mind."

If the summoner noticed the sharpness in her tone, he didn't show it; he simply walked back into the bookshelves without another word or look at Lux, and it struck her again how strange some of the summoners were.

Strange, but absent, and Lux was glad to finally be by herself.

It was easy not to think about where she was, or her judgement or her past or anything else, really, when she was reading; she got lost in the biography of a Ferljordian princess, and her accounts of harsh winters and bitter feuds, and the looming threats of beasts and barbarians. Lux could almost imagine the biting winds and heavy snow beneath the ever-grey sky of the Freljord, and she rubbed a hand over one of her arms as she immersed herself even further into the story.

Lux was thoroughly absorbed, enough so that when her silence was interrupted again by the hushed footsteps of another summoner, she snapped in anger.

"I _told_ you I didn't want any help-"

She turned to face the direction of the footsteps, intending to hopefully scare the summoner away with just the angry look on her face, but every last bit of it drained away when she saw who was standing there.

Not a summoner.

It was someone that, since the King had told her the war had ended, she hoped she would never have to see again; the painfully familiar shape of the dark cloak and the weighty stare that she couldn't see made her heart race, and Lux froze. She might have stayed there, too numb to move, but Talon shifted forward and Lux caught only the slightest glint of light reflecting off metal before she bolted, grabbing only her baton and spinning it over her head as soon as she was safe within the maze, disappearing entirely.

Even though he couldn't see her anymore, even when she left the library and found her way back to Demacian wing, Lux felt the same way she did her last night in Noxus; she was so sure that there was someone right behind her, brandishing a blade to her back, ready to end her life with the ease of a practiced killer.

She must have looked like a mess when she knocked on Quinn's door.

Quinn tried a few times to get her to speak, but Lux couldn't; the same thought just kept running through her mind, and no matter how many times she repeated it to herself, she still couldn't come up with an answer.

How did he know?

How did he know who she was and where she would be? It didn't make any sense; there was no way he could have possibly known that Lux was that maid he'd hunted all those weeks ago, or that she was a spy at all, or that she'd be in the library alone and unprotected. She still couldn't voice her thoughts clearly to Quinn, but she whispered something when she was calmer, the touch of Quinn's hand on her back a small, constant comfort.

"He found me."

* * *

 _For months Quinn lived with Lux, enduring her barely concealed hostility and awkward silences._

 _Quinn never complained, and never stopped being kind to Lux, either; she greeted her in the morning and always bid her a goodnight, and she was clean and quiet and courteous. She didn't even pry Lux with questions when she was sent away on deployments, like Lux didn't ask when Quinn was sent away._

 _They would have continued living that way, forced indifference on Lux's part and a kind patience on Quinn's, until one night, very late, when Lux was having a particularly brutal nightmare._

 _It was something that, up until then, Lux had been able to keep a secret from Quinn; still, she couldn't hide it forever, no matter how hard she tried. Lux's scream, quickly stifled, still carried through the apartment, and it wasn't long before her bedroom door was opening, and the cold night air was replaced by warm hands that rubbed her shaking back and patted her mussed hair._

 _She should have told her to leave, or to mind her own business._

 _Lux should have done those things, but she had never wanted someone there with her more than she did right at that moment, and Quinn stayed with her, quieting her cries and soothing her with an ease that Lux would later marvel at. Never once did she question her, or treat her with anything other than the same kindness she'd been showing Lux since she moved in._

 _Lux would look back on those months of frigid indifference with a guilty embarrassment, but Quinn would always smile and say the same thing._

 _"You just needed time."_


	9. Chapter 9

**_A/N: First off, thank you everyone for being supportive about the new update times, and thanks everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited- it's always incredible to hear from you guys c:_**

 ** _Also, this will be the last chapter with flashbacks, since we're all caught up now._**

 ** _Anthropomancy- Just messing with you ;-; he did, but I skipped it because I don't want to get in to the rivalry between Swain and Jarvan like, at all, and I didn't think I could just casually mention something like that either. So, I skipped it. It doesn't really have any effect on Lux or Talon in particular, so I don't feel like it was all that important to include. Thank you! I was just worried, and I didn't want to upset anyone by changing the update times, but that's good to hear!_**

 ** _Guest- Wow, thanks haha! He is a bit off, honestly, because he's one of those champs that Riot has portrayed as pretty emotionless and dark and blah blah, which I've always thought is kinda boring. I'm trying to write him with more depth,if that makes sense, but if that seems too OOC or something, I can try to change it._**

 ** _Happy (late) Fourth of July to you, and everyone else!_**

 ** _Ulcaasi- I feel like Talon is someone who is just low-key puzzled all of the time. And Lux is…. Well, Lux._**

 ** _A fan- Aw. What's stopping you? :o_**

 ** _GarenKat fangirl- No worries! THANK YOU. I always thought that this iteration of Lux was incredibly difficult to befriend, but that it was worth it if you could- and since Quinn is such a smarty pants, of course she tried. Thank you! It's a lot of fun to write both of their perspectives, and I'm excited to move on to future chapters. As always- thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future!_**

 ** _Caamds189- Thank you so much ;-; I'm a huge fan of your reviews tbh, they always make my day._**

* * *

 _Lux was sulking._

 _She held in her hands another sealed envelope from Maddick, but she didn't have to open it to know what was inside. It was another assignment; she'd been sent on so many lately, and for the past couple of months Lux had spent more time in various households in Noxus than in her own apartment._

 _It felt like she lived there sometimes._

 _It was a terrible thing to spend so much time in Noxus, because eventually the city-state stopped feeling like a scary story all Demacian parents told their children; everyone she met, everyone she spied on- they were living, breathing people with thoughts and desires, fears and aspirations. They weren't mindless killing machines._

 _They were people._

 _And every moment Lux spent there, every second spent in the company of some Noxian or another, Lux began to feel a little less hostile, like a lot of what she'd been told about Noxians was just plain wrong. There were so many in the city fighting to survive, trod on by the nobility and reduced to thievery just to live through one more day. They weren't scary- they were struggling._

 _And Lux began to sympathize._

* * *

It took a lot of convincing on Quinn's part for Lux to finally realize that she was overreacting.

It was understandable, certainly; there had been no way for her to know that Talon was one of the Noxians joining the League.

"Do you think that he really would have let you hear him coming if he actually wanted you dead?"

Lux shook her head. No, he wouldn't, but why else would he be there? It wasn't easy for her to just chalk the whole thing up to a coincidence, because no other champion had been in the library before, and no one knew Lux was there.

"And if he knew you were a spy, why would he want until now to try and kill you, when you're protected by the League? He could've come to Demacia any time before we left."

Lux knew Quinn was trying to help, but the realization that he could have come to Demacia whenever he wanted, and that the only reason he didn't was because he might still not know who she was, was making her skin crawl.

"It just doesn't make sense."

It didn't to her, at least; chance and coincidence held little importance in Lux's mind, but Quinn was sure that that was all it was.

"Did he follow you?"

Lux tried to remember, but she had fled the library so fast that she wasn't actually sure. She never looked back to check.

"I don't know."

Quinn pursed her lips, taking one of Lux's hands in her own and patting it very, very gently.

"I think you're wrong."

She said the words slowly, not intending to upset Lux but certain that she had misinterpreted an unfortunate situation.

"If he went to the library by himself, then the summoners would have shown him the same spot as you, right?"

Lux's frown deepened.

"Yes… but why would bring a blade to the library?"

She remembered the distinct glint of light on metal, and she shivered when she tried to imagine what twisted weapon Talon had with him. Quinn's reaction made Lux slightly angry, because she was pursing her lips like she was trying not to laugh.

"They're Noxians, Lux. They bring weapons everywhere."

Again she felt like Quinn was basing all of her counter arguments on flimsy assumptions, and Lux was reluctant to believe them because if they weren't true, then her life was in danger.

But if they were, then Lux wouldn't have anything to worry about.

"He can't hurt you. You heard what Vessaria said; even trying to is punishable by death."

Lux knew, but she didn't feel like basing her safety off of if's, and Vessaria's protection.

"You need to get some sleep. There's that meeting thing in the morning that everyone is forced to go to."

Up until then, Lux had completely forgotten about it, but she realized she was not only keeping herself from sleep, but Quinn too.

"Just try not to worry for now."

Lux nodded, certain that she wasn't going to be able to relax but unable to deny that Quinn did have a point or two. Quinn walked her out of the apartment, making sure she got safely down the hall and into her own before closing the door. Once alone, Lux headed straight for her bedroom, only bothering to change her clothes before crawling into her new bed and pulling the blanket over her head. She had her baton with her under the sheet, and she curled around a pillow, squeezing her eyes shut.

No one was coming for her.

Talon was probably sleeping, just like she should be. Even assassins got tired, right?

Lux tried to imagine him lost in the library instead, wandering the bookcases with a lost look in his dark, dark eyes. It was a little silly to imagine, and even though Lux was by no means comfortable, she was put to ease enough for her to finally fall asleep.

* * *

Talon wasn't surprised to be woken up the next morning by a series of sharp, impatient raps on his door.

"We're going to be late, you know."

Amidst other sleepy thoughts, Talon wondered when Katarina suddenly became concerned about being late to anything, and he made a noise into his pillow.

"I'm coming."

She couldn't hear the mumble through two doors, something that didn't really occur to Talon. To be fair, Katarina _did_ wait; she kept a steady rhythm tapping her boot against the floor and readjusted the leather of her jacket several times before striding away in a huff, figuring he could find his way to the mess hall without getting lost by himself.

Probably.

Talon didn't hear her leave, but when she stopped knocking he relaxed back into his bed, squeezing a pillow to his face in a position that didn't even _look_ comfortable.

Five more minutes couldn't hurt.

* * *

Lux was up even before Quinn the next morning.

It was impossible for her to sleep in, even though she was exhausted and didn't want to go to whatever meeting Vessaria was holding; the gathering had been labeled strictly mandatory and Lux wasn't sure what kind of trouble she would get in for skipping it, and she wasn't especially eager to find out either.

So Lux dragged herself out of bed, making sure she was adequately presentable and dressed comfortably before walking to Quinn's room and knocking on the door. She looked considerably more well-rested than Lux did herself, with a smile on her face like she was actually excited to be spending an undefined amount of time in a room full of (mostly) hostile strangers. Lux was too sullen to really want to uphold any sort of conversation, even when they were joined by Jarvan and Garen. She noticed that they too seemed a little too upbeat for her taste, with more than a few shared laughs and good-natured elbow jabs at unprotected ribs. Lux walked sandwiched between Garen and Quinn, her arms crossed as they walked through the bright halls.

"What's wrong, lightbulb? You look upset."

Lux hadn't been following the conversation very closely up until then, so she didn't immediately notice that Garen had shifted his attention to her. She looked up at him now with what she hoped was a passable smile, the concern in his gaze making her feel almost guilty for lying.

Almost.

"I'm fine. Just tired."

Not an entire lie, that was for sure. Garen seemed to believe it, giving her a small smile before returning to his conversation with Jarvan, possibly even more animated than before. Lux consciously made an effort to smooth her face now, uncomfortably realizing that Garen was more observant than she assumed. Being around Quinn was easy, because by now she knew not to ask about Lux's dark moods and unhappy expressions; being around Jarvan was just as easy, because he simply didn't notice.

But Lux hadn't been around Garen enough to know how she should act.

He wasn't as clueless as Jarvan or accommodating as Quinn, and it was unhappily that Lux realized she would have to be careful around him. The rest of the walk passed without incident, however, and the group followed the instructions they were given to an auditorium pretty deep within the Institute. The room itself had a high ceiling that provided only dim lighting, a motif Lux was quickly finding throughout the Institute. It was big enough that the residents of the four city states could sit a decent distance away from each other, but not large enough so that they were at ease; Lux could see the Ionians, sitting ramrod straight in their seats and studiously ignoring everyone else, the Yordles that were barely visible behind their seats, and the Noxians, a little off to the left of where Lux and the rest of the Demacian group had settled in the back of the room. Everyone gave them the same cursory look as she did, but after satisfying their mild interest, they looked away. Lux, on the other hand, stared the entire time she was walking to her seat and even after she had settled, counting one slouched redhead, one heavily adorned man with a bird on his shoulder, and one general with his trademark grey-streaked hair.

Three people.

There was a hooded assassin missing from the group, but Lux was the only one who seemed to notice, or to care; even Katarina, busy cleaning her fingernails with a knife, didn't seem to be affected by his absence.

Lux tried to convince herself this was a good thing.

Maybe Swain or Vessaria sent him back to Noxus; it hadn't made much sense to Lux why he was selected above so many others to be here in the first place. She stopped openly staring before anyone could notice her fixation, but stole furtive glances when she was sure everyone's attention was focused elsewhere; Talon wasn't there when everyone in the room had settled down, and he wasn't there when Vessaria stepped onto the stage, and when the High Councilor had started to welcome everyone to the Institute, Lux stopped glancing over, satisfied that he wasn't coming at all.

It was a relief, certainly.

She had been dreading seeing him because of the fear that he was looking for her, however irrational it was, and she was glad to see that she was wrong, but she was also curious, despite herself; if he wasn't here, then where was he? She didn't think he _actually_ got kicked out already. That would be pretty impressive, even for someone like him.

Her curiosity eased a bit when she realized she should be listening to what Vessaria was saying, but it remained in the back of her mind, a nagging reminder that there was something she didn't know and couldn't immediately find out.

"I hope that everyone is quickly getting settled, because we're eager to start holding matches. Because of our small numbers now, we plan to hold biweekly matches, and slowly increase that number when more people join the institute. As it stands currently, there are-"

Vessaria's voice had been magically amplified so that it rang clearly throughout the spacious auditorium, but everyone noticed when the doors to the auditorium opened, accompanied by a brief flash of light from the hallway and the expected sound of the doors closing. Lux, along with everyone else in the room, turned to the noisy newcomer, although Lux was the only one who probably felt like she was going to be sick.

Talon ducked his head at the stares, slinking quickly to where Katarina was sitting and almost disappearing into the dark fabric of his chair, hood pulled low over his eyes. Lux was the only one in the room who continued to stare, even after Vessaria had resumed speaking, seemingly unperturbed by the interruption. It wasn't like she could glean anything useful from glaring at him from across the room, but she did it anyway; he sat completely still, eyes forward, posture as terrible as ever. She thought Katarina might have said something to him because he did tilt his head towards her briefly, but that was it.

So he _wasn't_ kicked out.

It wasn't a very good theory in the first place, Lux had to admit, but it was her best so far. She once again briefly contemplated the fact that he'd gotten lost in the library looking for her all night, but she was starting to feel a little ridiculous, and she was glad when Quinn nudged her arm to get her attention.

"You're being obvious. Vessaria is about to introduce everyone, anyway."

Quinn was right; it wasn't like she could learn anything or will Talon away just by staring at him, and what Vessaria had to say was more important. She was thanking everyone, telling them there would be breakfast available right after the orientation was over, and then she went through each city-state and named all the new champions.

Lux knew all of the names, except one of the yordles; she'd even met a few of the grim-faced Ionians. When the Noxians were named she kept her eyes pointed forward, although her fingers curled into a loose fist in her lap. It was no surprise that Swain had been selected, and Darius by proxy. Katarina was well renowned in her own right, which didn't surprise Lux either, but again she had to wonder why Talon was there. Unless Katarina had asked him as a favor, she couldn't imagine Swain picking him over another one of his subordinates.

There was no noticeable reaction from the Noxians when the Demacians were named, and Lux doubted that they were surprised by who was present either, although Quinn and herself might have caused a modicum of confusion.

The rest of the meeting passed uneventfully and rather quickly, although it felt like ages to Lux because of the constant desire to turn her head, and the fact that even though she tried, she couldn't loosen her painfully curled fingers. Quinn didn't comment again when they were released, and even if she wanted to Lux doubted she would have been able to speak over Jarvan.

"I'm _starving_."

Lux had a feeling that Jarvan was more eager to get a better look at the Noxians than to actually eat, something she herself had no interest in; she left the auditorium still trailing closely to Quinn, but when they were outside she tried to split away, hoping no one would notice her absence.

"Aren't you coming?"

Damn.

Garen again, and Lux regretted turning around to answer him; he was a grown man several years her senior, but Garen had these big brown eyes that made Lux feel squirmy, like if she didn't give him what she wanted then she was probably a terrible person for denying him.

"I don't know…"

She really didn't want to, but he was staring at her with so much expectancy in his expression, and it was difficult to flat-out refuse him.

"It'll be fun, sunshine. And you should probably eat, anyway- you're looking a little pale."

He didn't say it unkindly -more like loaded with more concern than she had ever heard directed at her before- but she pursed her lips anyway, resigning herself to what promised to be a miserable breakfast.

"Okay."

If there was any consolation to Lux it was the smile that spread across Garen's face after that, like Lux agreeing to go to breakfast with him was the greatest news he'd ever received. Even Quinn gave her a look that suggested she thought she'd done the right thing.

Maybe it wouldn't be _all_ bad.

* * *

He was late.

He was late, and he'd overslept; he probably wouldn't have been worried any other day, but he didn't know how strict the summoners were being about attendance, and the last thing Talon wanted was to draw unneeded attention to himself. He moved quickly through the empty halls, trying to rub the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes while simultaneously fastening his cloak around his shoulders. It wasn't a very far walk to the auditorium, which was fortunate, and he had his cloak sufficiently straight by the time he arrived.

He tried to open the doors quietly, but they were big, heavy doors, and when they swung shut they clearly announced his arrival. Talon could feel the stares of everyone in the room, which unsettled him because he was a person whose entire livelihood was predicated on the fact that people couldn't see him. Katarina was easy to spot, and he moved quickly to the free chair closest to her.

"Nice of you to show up."

He didn't have to look over to know she was smirking at him, and he frowned accordingly.

"I overslept."

She shrugged like she knew and just didn't really care.

"I _did_ try to wake you up."

Talon made a quiet noise that went unanswered, and they both turned their attention to more interesting subjects. They were equally eager for the Institute matches to start, since that was really the only redeeming quality about joining the League for the pair of assassins. The politics of it were basically lost on them, but the chance to pit their blade against the best was certainly attractive.

Vessaria began to name off all of the new champions, starting with the tiny denizens of Bandle City; Talon knew none of them, and recognized only one of the Ionian names. Demacia was more predictable and he was right about the Prince and Garen, and even though he didn't know who the ranger was, he noted the last name with interest, looking up to find her on the Demacian side of the room.

Luxanna Crownguard- the one someone wanted dead.

He couldn't see her clearly at first since she was blocked mostly by Garen Crownguard's mass, but he shifted long enough for Talon to catch a clear glance of a stern frown and gold hair.

Very _familiar_ gold hair.

She was the summoner from the library, the scared one who ran from him the second she saw him. Well, not a summoner, clearly; she looked so small next to Garen and there was certainly no noticeable resemblance from where Talon sat, but he didn't doubt that she was the other Crownguard and not the brunette; she'd glanced up briefly at her name, exchanging a smile with Garen, and then returned to frowning at her hands where they were curled in her lap.

"That's Crownguard's sister?"

He murmured the question to Kat, who squinted over towards where Garen was sitting and glanced quickly away, like she was afraid he had caught the quick look.

"I guess. Why?"

He remembered the letter he'd lifted off of the dead assassin outside of Demacia; the name on it had been unmistakable.

"Why would anyone order a hit on her?"

She was small, pretty unassuming, and besides the baton in her hands there really wasn't anything noticeably special about her. She didn't look threatening, and she wasn't importantly tied to Demacian politics; paying to have her killed (and the amount of gold that had been offered) seemed like an incredible waste of time and money to Talon.

"I don't know. Maybe someone has a thing for blondes."

She _was_ very blonde. Still, it struck Talon as odd that someone would go through all the trouble to kill someone that wasn't important. Assassins weren't cheap, and jobs in Demacia were very dangerous. It just didn't make sense.

"You don't think it's weird?"

Kat gave him a judgmental look from the corner of her eye, like his questions were even stranger than the attempt on the girl's life.

"I don't care, honestly."

She returned to inspecting a knife, and Talon gave her a slight frown before glancing once again at the girl that was Luxanna. She was hidden again by Garen, and Talon averted his eyes, tapping his fingers against his knee.

He shouldn't care either.

He might not have, if he hadn't seen her in the library the night before. She looked so scared, and she moved faster than most people he had been ordered to kill; he doubted she was simply just skittish, and since it sounded like she hadn't been surprised at being interrupted, it had to have been him personally that scared her.

Not that Talon didn't think he was slightly intimidating, but the girl was a champion; she wouldn't be here if she went running from the first Noxian she saw. That further enforced the thought that she was scared of him specifically.

And since Talon had never seen her before the library last night, the realization raised a lot more questions than it answered.

He stole another glance towards her now, as Garen was leaning behind their seats to speak to Jarvan, but she was leaned over enough that her bangs were falling into her face and he couldn't see her expression. She still had one hand tightened into a fist on her lap, and the other still touching the strange baton, and she didn't seem to be speaking to anyone around her, or listening either.

Vessaria was dismissing them before he noticed anything interesting, and the Demacians immediately stood, moving in a loose group out of the room. Luxanna trailed behind them, not far from the brunette, and Talon had the feeling that she was the kind of person to always be on the periphery, which was slightly ironic considering what she looked like and the fact that the League had literally named her the Lady of Light.

"Do you want to get coffee? You can ogle the Demacians some more."

Talon might have disputed Katarina's statement another time, but he hadn't been the only one give the Demacians a decent amount of side-eye.

"Only if Garen is going to be there."

She flushed almost as bright as her hair, sticking up a choice finger, and shoved past his seat so that she could leave. He watched her go with a touch of unease, because even though he had been joking, what he said was rooted in truth; Katarina had a fascination with Garen that far out shadowed his momentary interest in his sister, and Talon was worried that now that they were champions, Katarina wasn't going to be as careful in hiding it. It didn't matter that they were partnered with the League- Crownguard was still dangerously off limits.

Which was something Katarina probably took as a challenge more than anything.

Talon trailed after her, quick to avoid being caught up with the Ionians, ignoring the annoyed look she gave him. He knew it would be better if he didn't actually say sorry, and the fact that he was going to get coffee with her at all was a good enough apology, and one that she understood clearly enough. Her irritation faded some while they walked in silence, and by the time they arrived at the mess hall it had disappeared entirely. They both headed for the same spot; a table in the corner of the room to the left of the entrance that was a pretty good distance away from any other table, and Talon took a seat while Katarina left to get them coffee.

Swain and Darius had opted out of getting something to eat, and so had the Ionians; the only people in the room besides himself and Katarina were the chattering group of yordles, the (mostly) boisterous Demacians, and a few taciturn summoners that were sitting at the same table but hardly moved and never spoke. He watched Katarina walk across the room, taking the free time to run his hands under his hood and through his hair.

He really was tired.

Coffee wasn't going to fix it, but he would appreciate it anyway, since he wasn't in the mood to actually eat something. When he looked up again Katarina was still across the room, staring at the wall with a painfully bored look on her face while the coffee brewed, and he shifted his focus away from her and once more to the Demacians.

They were being almost obnoxiously happy.

Garen was talking to Jarvan in a volume that Talon was sure was inappropriate for how close they were actually sitting, and even the brunette (Quinn, Vessaria had said) would chime in, although most of what she said was met with good natured groans, like she was telling really bad jokes. But Talon's curiosity didn't rest with them; he was carefully watching Luxanna interact with her brother and her friends, and the longer their conversation wore on, the more confused Talon became.

When someone was talking to her directly, she was the picture of happiness; her face brightened to near the same intensity as her hair, her smile was wide and even, and she occasionally let out peals of clear, high laughter that Talon could hear even from across the room. If you had only been staring at her at those times, everything about her mirth would have seemed genuine. If you were sitting next to her, telling her jokes and waving your fork as you recalled the finer details of a particularly funny conquest, you would have seen her laugh and her smile and you would have been satisfied, and then you would turn away to someone else to see their reaction.

And that was when her friends stopped watching- but not Talon.

He saw her eyes drop down to the food in front of her when the conversation moved to someone else, and every bit of the light on her face drained away, like the sun setting behind nasty storm clouds. She would stare at her breakfast like it had offended her, like she was angry at her eggs for existing.

And oh, was she angry.

It was subtle, like she was used to hiding it, but it was written clearly in the way her frown knit together, the tight way she held her mouth, and the way she subconsciously shrunk away from anyone that moved too close to her careful bubble of personal space when the conversation got a little too rowdy. Underneath the table, the hand not holding her fork was white-knuckling that baton of hers, and Talon wondered not for the first time what exactly it was for. It was ornate and finely crafted, and very pretty- it looked more like a toy than anything, but from the way she always had a death grip on it, Talon guessed that it was much more important.

It was all very, very strange.

It still didn't make sense to him why she was even there; she was a gifted mage, that he knew from Vessaria's brief description, but there were plenty of others in Demacia. There were plenty of other blade masters and officers and things of that nature, also. She was a scholar, but again, there were others. There was also the assassination attempt, the fact that she so easily switched from a dark anger to blinding happiness in the blink of an eye, and that he still suspected she knew him.

He certainly wouldn't have forgotten someone like that.

But anger wasn't a strange emotion, and neither was pretending to be happy; and if he really considered it, the attempted assassination wasn't even that out of the ordinary. Her brother was a prominent person- if someone wanted him dead but didn't have the means, she would be the next best target. And no matter what he thought, there was no way for her to know him. He was just fixating on her because he'd convinced himself he should, and because there really wasn't a whole lot else to focus on at the Institute.

So that was it. Mystery -or lack thereof- solved.

He was gratefully interrupted by the arrival of Katarina, and she silently passed him a steaming cup of coffee. They both stared at the table while their drinks cooled, and for once Talon wasn't really happy about the lack of conversation; his thoughts kept wandering back to the sometimes-sunny blonde, and it felt like the more he told himself he was being an idiot, the more he wanted to glance over at their table. He took a sip of the dark liquid, hoping to distract himself, but he frowned at the too-bitter coffee. He muttered a quick 'I'm getting sugar' to Kat, and then took his coffee and walked across the room, keeping his eyes carefully shifted downwards. The section of the mess hall where the coffee was wasn't a far walk, although for some reason he half expected something significant to happen before he got there. Still, it passed without incident, and Talon attributed his edginess to the fact that he wasn't operating on an appropriate amount of sleep, and chose not to blame it on anything else.

He was just tired.

He rooted around the coffee table, picking through stirrers and different blends of coffee, frustrated with the fact that the sugar was apparently hidden, and to find it required more than a few moments of brainless searching. He was close to giving up when someone reached over, two pink packets of sugar in their tiny palm.

Talon slowly followed the hand to its owner, and it made perfect sense that the arm would eventually lead to the stormy blonde, whose expression was once again fixed into a neutrality that was on the verge of breaking into something darker. He hadn't noticed in the library, brief as their meeting was, but her eyes were the kind of blue that almost seemed unnatural on a person; so bright and vibrant, like every bit of light that had the fortune to fall upon them was trapped there forevermore. Such was his fixation that Luxanna grew uncomfortable with her hand held out, and slowly reached over just the tiniest bit more to drop the sugar next to his cup before quickly walking away.

Very, _very_ quickly.

Her hair fanned out behind her as she walked, catching the brighter light of the mess hall in a way that convinced Talon that no matter where she was, it would inevitably appear that Luxanna was sucking in all of the light around her. He numbly collected the sugar packets and walked back to his table, staring at them in his hand while he considered why in the world she would bother to do that.

She ran from him the other day; she had been terrified of him.

So why would she suddenly decide to go out of her way to interact with him? It didn't look like she was happy about it, or like she was expecting anything; her face stayed deadpan the entire time, and she said nothing. She didn't even have to do it. She went through the trouble because she _wanted_ to.

It was a lot to consider as he walked back to his seat, but he kept his eyes lowered the entire time, even when he was sitting across from Katarina again. She was focused on her own thoughts, so she didn't notice how stiffly he was sitting or the fact that he ripped open the sugar packets with a methodical slowness, and it was only as he emptied the last of the packets that Talon realized something.

She'd given him two sugars.

* * *

She didn't know why she did it.

Her heart was racing, absolutely pounding in her chest, even though she had long since returned to her seat and resumed picking at her food. She didn't even get to see the look on his face; his hood did a good job of covering his expression, and he didn't say anything, just stood there while she awkwardly held her hand out. It felt like she was waiting for him to slap aside her hand and strike her down in the middle of the mess hall, to confirm her suspicions once and for all, but his silence and stillness were absolute. Her bravado quickly faded the longer she stood there, and she'd dropped the sugar and left without looking back. Nobody at the table had noticed, and she settled in their midst again, continuing to ignore the conversation around her.

She still wasn't sure why she had gotten up in the first place.

Maybe Lux was just masochistic, and liked to taunt danger; considering the fact that she never wanted to do something like that again, she doubted the viability of that particular thought.

Or maybe it was because she was afraid.

Lux didn't like to be afraid. Most of her life was defined by one fear or another: the fear of being torn from her family, the fear of Noxus, the fear of failure, and most recently, her fear of Talon. She didn't like to be a quavering, frightened mess, reduced to hiding and shrinking away. There were so many things in her life that were out of her control, but Lux could control the things she let scare her.

So she tested him- she tested herself.

In the grand scheme of things, handing someone sugar for their coffee wasn't exactly the ultimate test of strength, but it was enough for Lux -for now. She'd done it without shaking or shirking, and she'd held the gaze she couldn't see with an evenness that many probably couldn't.

It was a victory- small, but a victory all the same.

* * *

 _She remembered when she used to be afraid of Noxus._

 _The first night she had spent in the city, she hadn't been able to sleep because she was so sure that everyone could see right through her disguise, and they were just waiting until she closed her eyes to cut her throat- or something worse. It seemed so strange to her now, because although she didn't want to go to Noxus, she felt none of that old trepidation, and each new challenge she faced was another opportunity to see what she was capable of._

 _But as she thought of the month she was about to spend in the Du Couteau household, she was spiteful- it was a waste to send her here. It was a waste to have Demacia's best spy sitting around serving refreshments when she could be better spending her time somewhere -anywhere- else. No, Lux was no longer afraid._

 _She was angry._


	10. Chapter 10

**_A/N- Hi! I won my diamond promos over the weekend with Lux AND got my level 5 mastery with her, and I was in such a good mood that I basically rewrote this chapter because it was considerably more boring before, and we couldn't have that._**

 ** _Just thought I'd share!_**

 ** _Ulcaasi- Well it's definitely a word now. Honestly I've never like Garen until I started writing him, so I kind of get what you're saying._**

 ** _Guest- That's actually a huge relief, because I liked writing Talon this way ;-; Thank you so much! Your review really made a crappy day a lot better, and I thank you for it._**

 ** _Runty Grunty- Just Lux/Talon, sorry :p_**

 ** _A fan- Once a week is the plan! Ahhh, I understand._**

 ** _Naovan- I'm glad you found the fic, and thank you so much! I'm definitely going to finish this, so no worries ^-^_**

 ** _TheMixKage- Thank you, and wow :o I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!_**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

* * *

Lux had a lot of free time at the Institute.

And free time, for her, was usually a dangerous thing; when left alone with her thoughts, Lux had a way of convincing herself that something she had previously decided was stupid to do was actually now brilliant, and the longer she put off actually _doing_ whatever it was, the more it bothered her.

Still, there was a difference between what Lux _should_ do and what she _wanted_ to do, a difference that she couldn't really ignore, which was why she was sitting in Quinn's room and not oh, say, tracking down an assassin.

Quinn was usually someone who didn't miss much, especially things like Lux's moods, but she was distracted today, and her inattention helped feed Lux's growing desire to do something dumb. Quinn was sitting in the middle of the bed in her apartment, one arm upraised and encumbered with Valor, the other hand gently lifting Valor's left wing.

"He gets in to stuff when I'm not around- look, he broke a feather."

Almost as if Valor could tell that Quinn was pointing out a flaw in his otherwise immaculate appearance, he gently tugged his wing from the loose hold Quinn had on it, hiding the aforementioned feather. It didn't look serious or especially concerning to Lux, but then again, Valor wasn't her bird, and she didn't know much about his specific breed of eagle.

"You could camp outside, you know- there's plenty of room in the gardens."

Lux wasn't kidding; she hadn't been through them herself, but the gardens around the Institute were needlessly extensive, enough so that Lux felt more comfortable calling it a very small forest. She knew Quinn hated being separated from Valor, and she also knew that she felt a lot more at home in the field, not cooped up in a strange apartment that was basically next door to Noxians. Quinn only gave her a small smile, trying to coax Valor into extending his wing again.

"Don't tempt me."

Lux shrugged -she really hadn't been kidding- and laid flat on her back on the bed, behind where Quinn was sitting. Her thumb rubbed a line across her baton, back and forth, and she spoke quietly.

"Did you sign up for the first League match?"

It was the main subject of conversation for every champion, or so Lux assumed; the first ever match in the Institute of War. Nobody knew what to expect, only that they definitely wanted to be a part of it, and due to demand the match had a waiting list of people who wanted to prove themselves, or honor their country or something.

"I did yesterday. Are you going to?"

Lux still wasn't sure she wanted to; she knew that Jarvan and Garen had signed up almost immediately, because they were the type of people who relished that sort of exhibition- to prove publicly that you were stronger than everyone else was a hard-to-resist power trip, and none of that really appealed to Lux. Besides, she wasn't even sure what she was allowed to do in these matches. Lux felt that most of the magic she knew was Demacian Intelligence secrets; she was, in a way, trademarked by her own country, and she was nervous about going too far in a match and facing repercussions back in Demacia.

"I don't know… I probably should, right?"

She glanced over to see Quinn shrug with her free arm, but she was still mainly focused on Valor.

"I think you're expected to, but there's no one who can force you to do it. Vessaria said it was optional, and the King can't tell you what to do here."

Quinn said the words so casually, but it was something that had occurred to Lux a few times over the past three days and always resonated with her in the strangest of ways- _the king can't tell you what to do here._ Lux wasn't free from Demacia's hold, not by far, but she had a degree of freedom now that she hadn't had since she was almost too young to remember.

So, if she didn't want to, Lux didn't have to participate in that first League match.

She wasn't especially eager to prove herself, because no one expected anything from her; she told them she was a scholar and a mage, and they believed her, because they were not amazing things that needed to be proved. They were not impressive.

Lux, the way people were made to see her, was not impressive.

And she had no immediate wish to change anyone's impression of her. The fact that people so often took her at face value and disregarded her thereafter, and then subsequently underestimated her, used to make a spiteful Lux all the more angry, because she knew she was being sold short and there was nothing she could do to prove otherwise. As time wore on and Lux was forced to accept the fact that she was always going to be some bright success story to be spread around Demacia for moral and that she was never going to be the bitter spy that was just as dark as the very bravest solider that Demacia had in its army, she realized that, miserable as living that way was, it came with an advantage.

It was hard to be afraid of someone that looked like Lux.

She was small and pretty, and everything everyone knew about her was that she was a smart, nice girl who loved everything and everyone. People felt comfortable around her, and when people were complacent, they made mistakes. It was just one reason of many that Lux was so good at her job.

The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to go anywhere near that match.

She felt a little bit better when she answered Quinn this time, and the words didn't stick in her mouth like they might have in the past.

"I don't think I'm going to."

Quinn gave her a pointed look from the corner of her eye, but Lux got the impression she was proud of her, not disappointed.

"It's up to you."

It was up to her. It was just as strange as hearing that the King didn't have a hold on her here; Lux was someone who had been told what to do and how to do it since she was ten. Even coming to the League had been because she was asked to.

It was all very… strange, to say the least.

"I'm going to take Valor outside. Are you coming?"

Lux didn't really want to tramp through the gardens with Quinn, so she shook her head, sitting upright.

"No, I think I want to stay in today."

Quinn nodded, shifting Valor to her shoulder, frowning at the large bird when he fluttered his wings in what looked a lot like irritation.

"Okay. You should see Garen today, since you have the time. You haven't spent a lot of time with him since we got here."

Quinn had a way of saying things like that so that they didn't come out chiding or hurtful, but more of a gentle reminder- and she was right. Lux wasn't easily adjusting to her new life, and she'd spent most of the past three days alone in her room or sitting quietly with Quinn. She had wanted to see Garen so _badly_ before they left Demacia, and she was excited at being a champion with him, but now that she was actually there, it was hard for her to retain her earlier excitement.

Lux got off of Quinn's bed, smoothing out her shirt and holding her baton loosely in her right hand.

"I think I'll go find him now, actually. I'll see you later."

Quinn waved and even Valor dipped his head, and Lux walked out of the apartment and into the hallway outside. It was empty, like usual, and unsettlingly quiet, just like most of the Institute was. She had a pretty good idea of where Garen and Jarvan were; there was a training room between the Demacian and Ionian wings that was frequented by champions of both nations, and it was the second largest inside the Institute itself. The biggest was naturally inhabited by the Noxians who'd taken to it almost immediately, and it was avoided by everyone else for obvious reasons.

She wouldn't really have anything to do there. Garen would be happy to see her, that's for sure, but Lux had never picked up a sword in her life, and besides exchanging pleasantries she and Garen would have nothing else to do or say. But it was probably better than slowly turning into a recluse, which Lux felt was imminent if she kept choosing alone time over socializing, so she trudged onward, making an effort to ignore her more negative thoughts and holding her baton maybe a little bit tighter than before.

The training room itself was very wide and filled with countless racks of different weapons that went largely ignored by the people inside, since they all had their own; Jarvan and Garen were off to themselves, like she expected, and Lux noted with a degree of interest one Ionian at the opposite end of the room who was exercising with blades she wasn't actually touching. Irelia, she remembered- she'd met her once, years ago.

Lux walked slowly to where her brother was, thinking idly that a room this large was mostly wasted and wondering why there were so _many_ training rooms, until she was standing in front of where Garen and Jarvan were leaning against a wall. Garen didn't look especially surprised to see her, but he did look happy, offering her a wide grin.

"Hey, Lux."

He was still pretty breathless from whatever he'd been doing before she entered the room, and both he and Jarvan were red-faced and sweating. Lux wrinkled her nose, waving her hand in front of her face good-naturedly.

"You guys stink."

Jarvan laughed and Garen rolled his eyes, and even Lux gave a small smile.

"It's just because Garen is determined to work us both to death. If I wasn't here, he'd never stop."

Garen waved a hand at the hyperbole, but he seemed almost flattered by Jarvan's words. Jarvan nodded at where Lux was standing, and she realized that both he and Garen were on their way out, and not still training.

"We were about to get lunch- after a shower, of course. Do you want to come?"

Lux had already eaten with Quinn, and she certainly wasn't hungry again. She could eat lunch with them anyway; it wasn't just an invitation to eat, but to spend time with them both, and it would be easy for Lux to just say yes and accompany them.

But she remembered how breakfast had gone last week.

It had been painfully uncomfortable for her, and she just didn't like to talk about the same things that Jarvan and Garen did; the prospect of spending the meal with them without Quinn there was quite daunting.

"No, thank you- I ate with Quinn already, and there was something I wanted to get from the library. I just wanted to come say hi before I headed over, since Quinn said you were here."'

The lie fell easily from her mouth (she had no previous intentions of going to the library that day) but Garen and Jarvan both seemed to buy it, and they stepped away from the wall, hands raised in farewell.

"We'll see you later, right?"

Lux nodded, raising her hand in turn, and gave them a wide smile.

"Of course!"

She kept the smile in place until she was sure they couldn't see her anymore, and when the training room doors closed behind them it dropped completely. She left the room when she was sure she wouldn't run into them outside, frowning at her baton as she walked aimlessly through the halls.

Now what was she supposed to do?

She thought of actually going to the library, but that was in the opposite direction of where she was going, and she didn't really feel like making the walk. She could go back to her apartment, of course; that was what she had planned on doing today anyway.

She could find Quinn, if she was _really_ determined to occupy herself.

None of those things particularly appealed to her, and Lux kept walking, not realizing where she was until she spotted someone else in the hallway. Katarina was just leaving a room on the right side of the hallway, striding down the way Lux was headed so that the redhead's back was to her. She was walking quickly and she didn't turn around, so she was down the hallway and turning onto another without ever realizing that Lux was there. She was alone- something Lux noted with more interest than maybe she should have.

She resumed moving until she was in front of the room Katarina had left, and although the doors had no windows for her to see inside, there was a nameplate above them.

'Training Room 001'

Well, she found something to do.

She'd been avoiding actually hunting Talon down (assuming he was inside, and she was sure he was) because when she was around Quinn, it was easier for her to remember how stupid the idea actually was. She also wasn't eager to wander around the Institute alone, and the thought of doing so had kept her in her room and the library for three days.

But she was here already.

The burning desire to _know_ was eating at her again; it was the same feeling that had prompted Lux to approach Talon in the mess hall last week. She had wanted to know if she could overcome her fear of Talon, and if he was hostile.

She could, and he wasn't.

But she wanted to know _why_ he was in the library that day; was it coincidence, like Quinn said? Or was it more, like Lux suspected? She couldn't help moving forward, couldn't help putting her free hand on the handle of the training room doors.

She had to know.

* * *

The week leading up to the first League match was very, very long.

There wasn't actually a lot to do at the Institute, if you weren't on friendly terms with the rest of the group from your city. Since Talon and Katarina definitely were not, this meant they ended up spending most of the beginning of the week together, and Talon quickly realized why they didn't usually do that.

Because two bored, sort of angry, sarcastic assassins didn't really get on well.

They'd taken to spending their days in one of the training rooms the Institute had to offer, a large one that dwarfed Katarina's at the Du Couteau mansion and had only been visited by them so far. It released a lot of pent up energy and frustration to throw a knife or two, but there was always the slight feeling that Katarina's indirect annoyance would suddenly attach itself to Talon himself, and every time steel flashed in her hands, it caused Talon to pause.

They really needed to find something else to do.

There were a few other things that Talon would rather be spending his time on, honestly; sleeping was one of them, naturally, but there was also the nagging curiosity of a certain blonde and two inoffensive packets of sugar.

The younger Crownguard was the main reason he was spending his time with Kat; there was just _something_ about how all the little things he knew about her added up, like there was permanently something off about the girl. He was so sure she was hiding something, but she wasn't the type of person you would expect to have a plethora of secrets. And, Talon thought, most people probably didn't think she did; she was an expert at looking and acting the way people thought she should, even from what little he'd seen of her.

Jarvan, her brother- at the breakfast last week, neither of them looked like they expected Luxanna was anything but the happy face she put on.

It bothered Talon in a way that he hadn't really experienced before, but it wasn't like he could readily indulge his curiosity; he wasn't about to just stroll up to her with all of his questions, even if he wanted to be so direct, and after weeks of warning Katarina away from Garen, he couldn't even consider doing it. There was no point, anyway; anything he found out about the mage would be useless, since Demacia and Noxus were technically no longer at war.

So he avoided being anywhere in the Institute she might be, resorting to trailing Katarina.

Currently she was standing across from him, her two favorite daggers in her hands, her knees slightly bent as she considered her best method of attack. Talon was likewise situated, his fingers twitching beneath his own blade as his eyes tracked every movement of Kat's, no matter how small.

Against Katarina in particular, offense was usually the right answer.

Keeping her on the defensive was a good way to wear her down, and Talon darted forward, brandishing his blade at Kat's exposed midriff. He expected her to lift a dagger in time to block it, and he used his left arm to deflect her answering strike, the bracer on his left wrist catching the metal of her other dagger.

It went on like that for a few minutes- Talon would think of a new way to strike at her, Kat would block it in the nick of time, and he would move away from all of her relatively predictable counters. They were evenly matched, as they always have been, and this duel ended like almost all of their others- in a frustrated draw, with no clear victor.

Katarina panted as she lowered her weapons and stepped away, and Talon followed, his breathing similarly impaired. There was a small part of the training room with a water fountain and cups, and they headed there, both grateful for the chance to refresh themselves. Kat fixed her ponytail when she was finished drinking, eyeing Talon while he filled his cup for the second time.

"If we keep this up, one of us might actually win."

Talon smiled behind his cup, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"It's an eventuality."

Kat rolled her eyes, but her expression took on a degree of seriousness.

"If I don't get into that League match, I'll probably cry."

Although a touch less dramatic than Kat was, Talon agreed; there wouldn't be a lot to do if you weren't picked for the match, and he didn't really think spending his days with Kat all the time would end well.

"I'd pick you for the match."

Kat snorted, a very unladylike noise that suited her quite perfectly.

"And why is that?"

Talon shrugged, all nonchalance.

"Because I wouldn't want a knife in my back for picking someone else."

He was rewarded with a quiet laugh, and Kat adjusted the position of the daggers strapped to her back.

"I'm done for today. See you later- probably."

Talon watched her stride from the room, fixing the cuffs of her jacket and reaching up to adjust her hair again. With Kat otherwise occupied, he had the room to himself, and he left the water fountain to head over to the part of the room lined with cloth dummies, and a small array of throwing knives. He picked through the selection, unsatisfied with most of them, and eventually settled for three that were close enough to ones he owned himself. He positioned himself a good distance away from one dummy, and paused to take a deep breath and brush his hair out of his eyes.

On second thought, he was a little too close.

He moved a more suitable distance away and readied his hand, and when he was comfortable, threw the knife.

The knife was weighted differently than he was used to, but it hit damn near the center of the target on the left side of the dummy's chest. He didn't move to retrieve it, instead readying another knife in his hand and throwing it like the previous one. This one hit even nearer to the mark, and Talon noted the improvement with a small bit of satisfaction. He was lifting the last knife when he heard the training room doors open, and since he was reluctant to move immediately, he simply greeted Kat as she walked to where he was standing, his back still to the door.

"I thought you were done?"

The footsteps stopped a respectable distance away from someone that had a knife in their hands, and Kat spoke.

"What?"

Not Kat.

Talon had never dropped a knife he intended to throw at something, but he almost did now, the cold metal slipping an inch out of his hand. He'd never actually heard the voice before (very high, he noted, but strange in a way he couldn't place) but there was no doubt in his mind about who it came from. He turned slowly, and he was so sure his guess was correct that he almost wasn't surprised when he saw who was standing there.

Almost.

Crownguard herself. She was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, that weird baton in one hand, and she had a frown on her face like what Talon had said was the strangest thing about the situation. He slowly lowered his arm, facing her completely.

"You're not Kat."

It was certainly not the most tactful thing to say, but Talon was surprised; he didn't think he was going to see the blonde again (up close, anyway), let alone speak to her.

Or that _she_ was going to be the one who eventually sought him out.

She raised one eyebrow out of her frown, pursing her lips like she was about to laugh.

"You're observant."

It was Talon's turn to frown now, and even though he couldn't deny he was curious about why she was there at all, he wasn't especially enthusiastic about being interrupted.

"You're a little far from home, aren't you? Does your brother know you're here?"

He succeeded in sounding insultingly condescending, and he'd hit a nerve apparently; fury clouded her expression, and she shifted the hand clutching her baton, causing Talon to unconsciously grip the knife in his hand a little tighter. He wondered if seeing such intense anger on such a seemingly innocent face would ever not be so disturbing.

"I wanted to know something."

She completely ignored his jibe, and Talon wondered what she could possibly want to know from him, enough that she came here to actually ask. She looked so uncomfortable standing there, and Talon was sure to wait an annoying amount of time before answering.

"I don't think I have anything to tell you, Crownguard."

He honestly didn't, but he noticed the way her mouth twitched when he called her Crownguard, and she looked like she was barely controlling herself from reaching over to slap him. Aside from the obvious reasons, Luxanna was so strange to him; she still had that aged anger on her face, coupled with the voice that sounded like it belonged to a teenager, and despite her diminutive figure and overall unintimidating appearance, Talon got the feeling from her that she was confident in the fact that if she did actually want to slap him, that she could.

She didn't match.

Her voice, her appearance, her expressions and body language- none of them looked like they belonged on the same person. It was hard to take someone so outwardly sunny and bright seriously, but the way she spoke and carried herself made you feel (instinctually, almost) that you should be careful around her.

Disturbing.

"I want to know why you were in the library last week."

Talon blinked a few times in the silence that stretched after the question, repeating the words over in his mind until he was sure he hadn't misheard her.

What.

"The library?"

He sounded painfully simple, but he was undeniably very, _very_ confused.

"You know, the big room with the books? Why were you there?"

Talon had a feeling that no matter what Luxanna was saying, it would inevitably be sarcastic, and it was a personality trait that was already grating on him even though he'd been speaking to her for all of five minutes. He remembered how scared she'd been that night in the library, but here she was, no trace of that fear on her face and demanding answers from _him,_ when she'd done more questionable things that night and since then than him by far. If anything, _he_ should be asking the questions.

Talon could almost believe that he was imagining the whole thing, but he didn't think he had the creativity to portray Luxanna the way that she was, and he certainly couldn't make up the things she was saying.

"I could be wrong, but isn't the library open to all champions? Not just you."

She didn't seem to be a fan of his sarcasm, either; her dark expression got darker, and Talon noted the change almost with a sense of accomplishment.

He liked making her angry- it made her look a little less superior.

"I wasn't debating whether or not you were _allowed;_ I was asking why."

It wasn't a distinction he had missed, but since he was quickly finding that the more flustered she became the more enjoyable for him the conversation was, he purposely avoided answering her- not that he had intended to, anyway.

"Were you now?"

From the change in her expression, she could tell that she wasn't going to get answers she wanted from him; she spun on her heel quite suddenly, walking away with her gold hair fanning out behind her. She twirled her baton between her fingers with a practiced ease a few times while she walked, but she said nothing else over her shoulder, and when she was finally out of the room Talon relaxed muscles he didn't know were tensed.

 _What_ the hell.

* * *

Useless Noxian.

The further she walked away from Talon, the dumber Lux felt, and by the time she was back in her room her face was burning with an angry sort of embarrassment. _Why_ did she do that? He obviously wasn't going to answer anything she asked seriously; he was so infuriatingly sarcastic, and arrogance was written into his every word and movement.

Lux really regretted not slapping him when she had the chance.

It'd been tempting for sure, but Lux remembered the first time she taunted Talon when he had a knife in his hand, and she remembered very clearly how that ended. So, she kept her hands to herself.

But _oh,_ how she regretted it.

She doubted anyone had tried to wipe that smug smile off his face before, especially considering you couldn't actually see it most of the time, and Lux realized she wanted more than anything to be the first.

And she could.

There was no doubt in her mind that Talon signed up for that first League match. Lux had never been a violent person before, but such was her anger that she left her room, going to sign up for that match with every intention of absolutely destroying that sarcastic annoyance. As she walked, she thought back to how she felt earlier- that she didn't have anything to prove to anyone at the Institute.

But she wanted nothing more than to prove to Talon Du Couteau that she was not to be brushed off.


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: I thought I would preface this chapter by saying that I hate, absolutely DESPISE actually including League matches in my fics with any detail. I've always felt so awkward writing them and I always feel so ridiculous trying to make the matches somewhat realistic and believable, and ugh. It's just not fun, so if it seems like I glossed over explaining the rift or w/e, it's because I did.**_

 _ **I'm a lazy and stubborn writer, pls forgive.**_

 _ **Anyways, I included a headcannon drabble at the end of the chapter about my thoughts on the rift/summoners sort of and a list of the other champions in the League currently, but it's not incredibly important to the story, so feel free to skip it if you want!**_

 _ **A fan- I'm working on the more part!**_

 _ **TheMixKage- Thank you ^-^ Okay that is a HUGE relief, because characterization is probably my biggest concern personally as a writer, and it's what I try and focus on the most (which I feel like is pretty obvious). Everyone has a different opinion obviously, but it's nice to know that at least someone is enjoying his character ;-;**_

 _ **Guest- I'm a big fan of super quick plot changes.**_

 _ **J- Thank you! I look forward to writing them :D**_

 _ **Tri-Color- You can review as much as you want, because I absolutely love love love hearing from you guys. Thank you thank you! ^-^**_

 _ **GarenKat fangirl- No worries! Ahhh thank you ;-; It's still so weird being complimented on my writing style, honestly. A huge reason of why I like writing this fic so much is because it is sooo fun to imagine the best assassins in Noxus doing normal, mundane people things. Like, obviously at some point in their lives they've had to drink water after a workout or something, but it's so strange to actually imagine it? I love it. But above all, writing sarcastic people is the BEST (mostly because I'm disgustingly sarcastic myself), and I'm glad you liked it. I'm so pumped to keep writing just so I can do more Lux/Talon stuff, an ahhh. So much writing to do. Keep in mind, the summoners have seen into Lux's and Talon's memories during their judgements, so they know just how Lux feels about Talon- I always thought the summoners were people who really liked to mess with the champions when they could, but I don't want to say anything to spoil the chapter, soo read on! C: THANK YOU TONS. :3**_

 _ **No one- I feel like I haven't been clear before, and I apologize for getting anyone's hopes up, but there really won't be any significant Garen/Kat in my fic. It's about Lux and Talon, and besides a few mentions, I won't get into the Garen/Kat relationship with any depth. (At least I don't plan to as of now.)**_

 _ **If you're looking for silly Garen/Kat, go read "Spinning" by GarenKat Fangirl. If you're looking for something serious, aside from Princess Garen's fics, I really can't help you :(**_

 _ **Imstillive- Wow! Always feel free to gush! Thank you so much ;-; is it strange that I actually really enjoyed writing Lillia? Like, she was in the fic so briefly but that was a character I definitely liked including. I feel like it's sooo important to have both perspectives when you're writing any kind of relationship, because there are so many facets to relationships and everything. I intended for this fic to just be from Lux's perspective initially, but I really felt like it detracted from the story. That's another thing I wanted the perspectives to do: highlight the similarities between two outwardly opposite people that you wouldn't normally see, and to do it without bluntly stating things like "Lux and Talon both need purpose now!". It feels more natural to me, if that makes sense. And on the Cass/Ezreal thing- I don't want to say anything that could potentially ruin a future part of the fic, but you don't need to worry! I won't/haven't forgotten about them ^-^ ALSO- I absolutely LOVE big reviews like this. It's always refreshing and helpful to read someone else's perspective on your writing, because I've been reading my own writing over and over and it's easy to forget tiny details and things like that. It's so helpful to read reviews like yours, and I really do love hearing from you guys, big reviews or not, but definitely don't apologize for the length, because I love it. My summoner name is MeltedJujubees, same as here, but I admit I'm an aram junky, so I don't know if my .gg would be interesting at all ;-; But anyways, thank you for the review and the compliments, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future!**_

 ** _Ulcaasi- HERE WE GO._**

 ** _Guest- Aww thank you so much! I was pretty sad writing the Lux and Garen stuff too ;-;_**

 _ **To everyone else, sorry for the lengthy responses above, but I hope you enjoying reading!**_

* * *

"You're doing it again."

It took Lux a second to realize that the voice was directed at her; she stopped poking her eggs with her fork, looking up to the source of the voice. Garen was staring at her like he was halfway caught between laughing and frowning.

"Doing what?"

Lux was unaware that she'd been doing anything but just sitting there up until Garen spoke, and she was beginning to worry that she'd done something wrong until Garen smiled.

"You're murdering your eggs. I think you're just supposed to eat them, not dissect them."

She rolled her eyes, turning back to her mutilated breakfast, but Lux couldn't deny that for a moment, she had been genuinely worried Garen thought there was something off about her.

"Aren't you hungry? Or too tired."

She was almost impressed that Garen noticed, but not entirely, since Lux had been in front of a mirror that morning; she was a mess. It didn't take a genius to see the exhaustion on her face.

"Too tired."

Tired and irritated, more accurately; Lux had spent the past two days barely sleeping and cooped up in her room, avoiding anything and everything, and agonizing over a split second decision she'd made in anger. She had to hand it to Talon, as much as she hated him; it took incredible skill to enrage Lux so much that she lost all sense of reason, and against her better judgement, sign up for that first League match of all things.

Honestly. It was a talent to be so completely infuriating.

So Lux found herself back in the mess hall, waiting like everyone else there to see whether or not the summoners would hand them a little letter dictating if they could slaughter their fellow champions the next day or not.

Apparently this was the kind of news people liked to receive over breakfast.

Like most things other people did, it completely confused Lux, but she'd accompanied Garen because she hadn't the other day when he was with Jarvan, and it wasn't as easy as it used to be for her to seclude herself; she refused to attribute that to anything else other than the fact that she wanted to see Garen.

"Are you nervous?"

She shook her head, but she got the impression that Garen thought she wasn't being truthful; honestly, the thought of the match itself didn't make her nervous- she just _really_ didn't want to do it, especially since she felt like she'd been goaded (intentionally or not) into it.

"I think it will be an incredible opportunity- if I'm chosen, that is."

Lux couldn't help but give a small smile at Garen's enthusiasm, and the fact that even though he tried to downplay it, he was smiling at his toast and gripping his fork like it was every bit as important and valuable as his sword. He looked absolutely prepared to conquer his breakfast.

"You look _really-"_

Lux didn't get to tell Garen how excited he looked because there were two new arrivals to the mess hall, largely unnoticed under the noise the rest of the room provided. Lux supposed she was lucky she was only with Garen, because he was too busy staring at Katarina to realize she was staring at Talon. They both watched the assassins move to sit at the same table they had the last time they were in the mess hall, and when they sat Talon's back mostly obscured the redhead, although not enough that she couldn't glance around him to catch what Lux assumed was Garen's gaze.

Lux hid a smile when Garen ducked his head and jabbed his toast with his fork much like she'd been doing with her eggs, but amidst her amusement was the relief that Talon wasn't facing them, and didn't have the opportunity to catch her staring also.

Garen seemed much less inclined to talk after that, fidgeting in his chair and only offering one or two words towards their conversation. Lux glanced up at Katarina once, but she was staring almost petulantly at her table, chin perched on the heels of her hands. She didn't seem to share any of Garen's embarrassed (or excited?) nervousness, something Lux noticed with a small degree of interest. Katarina _was_ striking, in that dangerous, mysterious kind of way, and Lux couldn't really fault Garen for noticing.

But she could still laugh at him.

"What was it you said about eating your food and not playing with it?"

She laughed maybe a little too loudly at the childish indignation on his face, dodging an elbow thrown at her arm, and for a moment she forgot how tired she was supposed to be; it was easy around Garen to be amused, because the way he reacted to most things was so different than she was used to; he had an innocence to him that Lux had never seen on someone his age or with his experience. It was… refreshing, almost.

And funny. Endlessly funny, because it was easy to mess with him.

A simple glance from Katarina and a laugh from Lux had reduced him to a red-faced mess, and Lux almost felt bad for laughing.

"Where's Jarvan, anyway? I wasn't aware you guys could be separated."

Even though he rolled his eyes, Garen seemed relieved at the change in conversation, but abashed at the same time.

"I was supposed to meet him soon, actually."

Lux shrugged, because she'd been with Garen all morning and she didn't want to keep him from Jarvan when it was clear that's where he wanted to be. Plus, it would be nice to try and sneak in a nap before he or Quinn needed her again.

"Wait, you don't want to wait until you get your letter?"

That was the whole reason they were in the mess hall in the first place; Lux doubted Garen had forgotten already. He offered a shrug, but continued to stand, brushing a few stray crumbs from his lap.

"I don't know how long it's going to be- they'll get it to me, I'm sure."

Lux nodded, and even though she thought it was a little strange, Garen seemed eager to go and she didn't want to stop him.

"I'll see you later."

He smiled and waved, quickly leaving the room. Lux watched him go, turning back to her breakfast with a sigh when he was no longer in sight. She was still somewhat hungry, and she picked over her eggs while she waited for the letter that she might not even get. Honestly, she'd be surprised if she did; they'd all been given designated "roles" of sorts since joining the League, and Lux, among a few others, was a mid laner. It didn't mean anything unless she was actively taking part in a League match, but there were a couple of mid laners that were part of the initial group of champions, and there was a good chance that they would be picked over Lux.

There was a _very_ good chance, because two of those mids just happened to be sibling assassins from Noxus.

Lux had been keeping her eyes focused on her food since Garen had left, but she gave them a glance now, noticing first the dark blue-black of the hood covering Talon's back (hunched over just slightly) before realizing that Katarina wasn't at the table anymore. She shifted her gaze around the rest of the mess hall and back to Talon's table, but still no redhead. She looked quickly away when Talon moved, returning to her breakfast with the slightest bit of unease.

It was probably a coincidence, right? Anyone else would say that Garen and Katarina disappearing at much the same time was, but then again, Lux wasn't most people, and she _hated_ coincidences.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shadow falling over her picked-over eggs, and it was one of those times where you just _knew_ who was standing there without having to looking up, and Lux's stomach flipped in a very nervous sort of way. She slowly raised her eyes, registering first a gloved hand extended in her direction, and then further up, a shadowed face with pursed lips and narrowed eyes that easily transformed into a smirk when they caught Lux's.

He sat down when Lux didn't immediately reach for the envelope, turning it in his hands so that the blue, crestless seal pressed onto its front with Lux's neatly printed name below it were facing him.

"Mine's red."

Lux couldn't see the other letter Talon was talking about, and even though she badly wanted to snatch hers from his hands and leave, once again her curiosity overshadowed better decisions.

"Where did you get that?"

The summoners were supposed to give it to her directly; there was no possible way for them to have mistaken Talon for her, and unless he stole it from one of them, she was at a loss. The corner of his mouth lifted, but now that he was sitting across from her and she wasn't looking up at him, it was harder for Lux to see the rest of Talon's face; just one of the many disconcerting things about him.

He ran his thumb over the seal of Lux's letter, like it made perfect sense from him to be sitting across from Lux and holding a letter addressed to her. Lux kept her hands clenched into fists on the table, itching to reach for the baton in her lap but not quite able to force herself to move. She waited for Talon to answer her, or say anything meaningful, but that wasn't quite his style, and it was several terse seconds before he broke the silence.

"When did you sign up for the match, Crownguard? I didn't have you pegged for the type."

Lux raised an eyebrow, most of her nervousness and her own question forgotten, replaced with anger at being called Crownguard and an annoyance at Talon's presumptuous derision that was steadily growing familiar.

"And what type would that be, exactly?"

She made sure there was plenty of malice in her tone, practically spitting her words across the table that, in her opinion, was much too short, but Talon's smirk didn't falter. He tilted his head slightly to one side and shifted his eyes from the letter to Lux's face, a very real curiosity burning in his eyes, despite his outward amusement.

"A pampered noble from Demacia- not the type to willingly subject themselves brutal violence, wouldn't you agree? Unless you have a hidden affinity for sharp things and murder."

A slight shiver crept down Lux's spine, but she forced a smile on her face, even though she could see he didn't buy it.

"Do I _look_ like I do? I know Noxians value strength, but do you put any stock into common sense at all?"

It didn't matter that Lux wasn't doing a very good job of concealing her nervousness, because what she'd said had sufficiently pissed Talon off; he stood without another word, tossing the letter at Lux so that it collided with her elbow, spinning and stalking away so that his cape momentarily flared out behind him in the way that Lux liked despite how much she hated who wore it.

She briefly lowered a hand to brush her baton, and when her churning stomach was calmer she gingerly picked up the letter, breaking the generic blue seal and extracting the letter within.

It was very short, headed with a congratulatory greeting and ending with Vessaria's embellished signature. Lux thought that letter was proof that someone really, really hated her, aside from one moody assassin; a fresh wave of regret washed over her when she realized that if she was accepted and Talon was also, and assuming he wasn't lying about the color of his letter (which denoted your team, the letter said) then that would mean Lux would be facing _him_ in that match.

They must really, _really_ hate her.

* * *

"This is taking forever."

Talon looked up from the knife he was cleaning, catching Katarina's angry stare. With the way she was smooshing her face into her hands and the frown that dragged down her features, she looked an awful lot like a petulant child.

A child with a nasty scar lining one eye, but a child nonetheless.

"We just got here."

Talon turned his eyes back to what he was doing, turning the knife so that it better caught the light, satisfied with the shape it was in. They really had just arrived at the mess hall, and Katarina hadn't yet moved to get anything to eat or drink, which made Talon wonder why she'd wanted to come at all. She opened her mouth to speak, but Talon saw her eyes flick momentarily to something behind him, and she closed her mouth without saying anything as she glanced quickly away. Talon would have turned around to see what it was any other day, but the glance was quickly followed by the sound of laughter that came from neither of them, and despite never having heard it before, he could guess easily enough who it belonged to.

And since Talon really doubted Katarina cared about Luxanna, he guessed that the blonde wasn't the only Crownguard sitting behind them.

Not that he felt anything to the degree that Kat did, but Talon returned his focus to the blade in his hands with perhaps a little more attention than the task required.

"Maybe they left the letter at my apartment."

Her voice was still slightly obstructed because of the way she was sitting, but Talon only lifted his eyes this time.

"If you got one, that is."

Her frown didn't get any deeper (he seriously doubted it was possible), but she freed a hand to stick up a choice finger, actually standing to leave.

She didn't even stop to insult him.

Katarina's behavior made a lot more sense when Garen also left the mess hall a few minutes later, something Talon noticed with a familiar sourness. She seemed determined to make her fascination with Crownguard even more of a problem, despite his warning, and it was more irritating now than worrying.

It wasn't his problem.

Katarina was more than old enough to screw herself over and figure out how to fix it, and this was one problem Talon couldn't fix by just offing someone. Not easily, at least.

He sighed as he slid his knife back into its spot in the depths of his cloak, moving to stand himself when he was stopped by one of the purple-robed summoners; this one was taller than most, nearly reaching Talon's own height, and silently handed him a sealed letter, turning quickly on a heel when Talon accepted it. Upon further inspection he realized it wasn't just one letter, but three; the first had his name written on it beneath a red seal, the second had Darius's name of all people beneath an identical seal to his, and the last he assumed was Kat's; he barely gave it a cursory glance, intending to just give it to her along with the one addressed to Darius, but the fact that the seal was a different color than his own drew his eye.

And it was definitely not Kat's.

He reread the name a few times, but no matter how much he thought it should, it never changed; Luxanna Crownguard, written neat and straight beneath that blue seal. It was funny, in a way, because Talon knew she'd been picked over Kat, but that was also what made it so incredibly surprising. She'd been chosen not only over Katarina, but Swain too, two people he was sure much rather belonged in the match than she did. Because of the way he was standing, it was easier than before to glance at where her laughter had been, and his eyes fell on where she was sitting by herself, staring at her food with a frustrated frown on her face, and he briefly wondered what she was thinking.

She wasn't dressed in anything form-fitting, but she was still clearly thin, almost to an extreme, and she idly blew a blonde strand of hair out of her face in one of the most innocent looking gestures that Talon had seen coming from her. Luxanna was a mid laner, as designated by the summoners, and so was he; assuming that their different colored letters mean she wasn't going to be on the same team as him, then it would be him against her.

That hardly seemed fair.

Talon couldn't begin to count the amount of people he'd killed that in were every way more menacing than Luxanna was, and it confused him to the point of frustration. He didn't think the summoners picked her for no reason, and he doubted the reason was just to see her be slaughtered over and over. It further reinforced the idea that Luxanna wasn't just some pretty Demacian mage.

It was such a strange notion to Talon.

In his experience, Demacians were proud to a fault; they liked it when people knew who they were and what they were doing in Demacia's name. Luxanna's brother, as well as the prince, were shining examples of this mindset. So why then did Talon still get the distinct feeling that she was _lying_ about who she was?

It wasn't just what happened in the library that day; it was her boldness in the training room, it was her wicked anger and dark expressions, it was two packets of sugar and the feeling that Luxanna Crownguard was wrong, wrong, wrong.

And now the match.

This must have been how she felt when she confronted him in the training room, because Talon's curiosity burned and pushed him forward until he was standing at Luxanna's table, holding her letter out to her while he waited for her to respond.

She had stiffened even before he held the letter out, and her eyes moved first to his hand and then slowly to his face; there was no surprise in that blue, but there was confusion, amidst the nervous way she shifted in her seat. She didn't say anything, and Talon didn't know what it was about her silence that encouraged him to sit, not leave, but sit he did, and he was rewarded with Luxanna noticeably leaning away from him, something that made his lips quirk upwards with the tiniest bit of amusement. He looked at the letter his hands made out to her, not quite sure what to say now that he'd put himself in a position where he had to speak.

"Mine's red."

She didn't know she'd been accepted for the match yet, but he did, and hinting what he knew already (that it would be him she was facing) was more enjoyable than letting her figure it out for herself. Her frown of frustration turned to one of anger, and she had that look on her face again like she wanted to hit him.

"Where did you get that?"

He had to smile at that; she was forced to speak, because he had something she wanted- both the letter and the answer to her question. Not an answer he felt inclined to give her, since he much preferred her angry and confused than haughty and questioning.

He ran a finger over the curving letters of her printed name, eyes dropping back to the letter as he was reminded of his own questions.

"When did you sign up for the match, Crownguard? I didn't have you pegged for the type."

It wasn't exactly the question that was eating at him, but the other would be harder to ask, and he very much doubted she would answer it, anyway. This one… maybe.

Her face twisted like she couldn't actually believe he was demanding answers from her, and she contributed to their little game of asking questions that were going laregely unanswered.

"And what type would that be, exactly?"

He didn't really intend to answer her, but he didn't exactly have anything to lose, and the opportunity to ruffle her pristine feathers was too good to resist.

"A pampered noble from Demacia- not the type to willingly subject themselves brutal violence, wouldn't you agree? Unless you have a hidden affinity for sharp things and murder."

She didn't look angry, like he would have thought; she didn't even look superior anymore. Her face was drained of most of its color, like she was scared, and the smile she plastered on her face after that brief look of fear was deeply, disturbingly out of place.

"Do I look like I do? I know Noxians value strength, but do you put any stock into common sense at all?"

Her witty retort had none of the bite she intended it to, and the sick look hadn't vanished from her face, which was as much of a confirmation to Talon than anything; something about what he said had scared her.

He just had to figure out what.

He felt like that was as far as he was going to get with her, and he tossed her letter on the table as he walked away, picking through each and every one of expressions, through everything she'd said.

He would figure out Luxanna Crownguard.

* * *

It was much later that night that Lux was alone in her apartment and dressing for bed, something she was sure she did out of sight of any mirrors. She pulled a shirt over her head, and for a moment so brief she almost didn't feel it, the fingers of her left hand brushed one knotted scar at the base of her spine, a perfectly straight line that she knew was just one of many.

 _Unless you have a hidden affinity for sharp things and murder._

Lux liked to think she was an expert at repressing memories, which was why what Talon said didn't reduce her to a shaking mess; it was why she could touch the scar without being assaulted, as she used to be, by a memory that shamed the one of Talon chasing her through the dark streets of Noxus.

It was why she was able to sleep at all that night, only jerking awake once when her usual nightmares returned. No, Lux had never had an affinity for sharp things, even if the people that did had one for her, and she'd never been able to stomach taking someone's life.

At least, not for a very, very long time.

* * *

Talon looked forward to that League match with an excitement he didn't have when he'd first heard of it.

It had been uncomfortable telling Katarina she hadn't been selected and even more so when he was forced to bring Darius his own letter, but aside from that, Talon was eager.

He was eager to see just exactly what it was that qualified Luxanna over so many others; not only being selected for the match, but being chosen as a champion at all.

He was up early the morning of the match just like everyone else, cowl in place and with the familiar weight of his blade on his arm. It wasn't until he arrived at the summoning chamber with the rest of the team that Talon actually got to see who they were; aside from Darius, which he already knew and who was very obvious about ignoring him, there were two yordles (one with a ridiculously unproportioned gun, and one with an even more outlandish hat) and a shrouded figure that was carrying something that definitely resembled a lamppost, and didn't say a single word to the rest of the people gathered. The yordles chattered loudly while they waited to be summoned, and Talon briefly ran over the few things in his mind that Vessaria had told them in preparation for the match.

Their strengths would be limited in some ways but drastically enhanced in others, but to an undisclosed degree; they would have to find out on the Rift, and play accordingly. In addition to that, there would be a summoner in contact with them at all times, influencing what they did and where they went. They didn't have complete control, but enough that the thought of it filled Talon with an anger that was mirrored on Darius's face, and that he was sure any other self-respecting person taking part of the match felt. Lastly, it was imparted on them that they were very much encouraged to kill, because when playing for the League, you couldn't actually die.

You couldn't _die._

To Talon, it sort of erased the point of trying killing someone who couldn't die, but it beat the mediocrity of not participating in the match at all, if only somewhat. Besides, it was almost worth everything just to rub it in Katarina's face should he ever need to.

He didn't really have a chance to think much about it, because there was a blue light in the summoning chamber not long after everyone had arrived, and they all stood straighter and stiller and completely silent as that light grew brighter and brighter, until the only thing anyone could see was a blinding azure. There was a momentary feeling of weightlessness, like Talon wasn't standing on solid ground anymore, and before he could become concerned, the blue light disappeared as suddenly as it arrived, and him and the rest of his team were once again stationary.

Stationary, and definitely not in the summoning chambers anymore.

Even though Summoner's Rift had been described to him beforehand, he couldn't deny that he was impressed; the mountain top they were on was startling in its realism, and amidst the sound of birdcalls and the smell of fresh air and flowers was a small, quiet voice in the back of his mind.

" _Welcome, Talon. My name is Griev, and I'm your summoner for this match."_

The voice was unimposing, but annoying, like the constant buzz of a mosquito that wouldn't leave you alone; it was the kind of thing that you immediately hated and never _stopped_ hating.

" _I'll hear any thoughts you direct to me."_

If he was hoping that would encourage Talon to speak, he would be disappointed; the rest of his team had already left the platform, and the only ones he could actually see anymore were the yordles that were disappearing quickly into the forestry that was bot lane. He didn't want to be late to his lane and he didn't want to give the summoner another excuse to speak to him, so he walked off the platform and headed into the forest.

Talon followed the path that would take him to his designated lane, taking his time as he once again admired the scenery. The lane itself was shrouded by tall trees that grew around crumbling buildings that had no discernable shape, and deep within the forest were the sounds of running water and scurrying animals. The path he was on was well-worn dirt in some places, large, flat stones in others, and lined with stubbly grass the entire way that he could see. All in all, the Rift was disarmingly attractive, and the quiet sounds of the forest almost put him at ease.

Almost, but Talon clearly remembered why he was there.

Each and every member of both teams were equipped to do one thing; kill their opponent. Talon didn't care much about most of the opposite team (all four Demacians and one Ionian) because now that he was actually there, now that the match had started, he was focused single-mindedly on the fact that facing him would be that enigmatic blonde.

If his summoner could tell what he was thinking, he didn't say anything, for which Talon was grateful; he didn't want to explain his burning desire to know what the blonde was hiding to anyone, and he continued down his lane, matching the summoner's silence. Arriving at the end of the lane was finally when something interesting happened; there were large structures along the path that Talon had passed four times, things the summoners called towers, and he stopped walking at the last one that belonged to his team, the cold stone a constant presence at his back. In front of the tower was a wide expanse of grassy path, unmarked by stone, and both sides dipped low into the shallow beginnings of a small river that was largely shrouded in darkness from the trees above it. Talon didn't focus on that, or much of anything else, because standing next to the tower of the opposite team was the familiar form of Luxanna Crownguard.

She was clad in bright silver armor that Talon had never seen on her before, beneath which was a navy body suit that clung tightly to everything not covered in armor. She was holding her baton, the same silver as what she was wearing, and her blonde hair seemed to glow in the light that the mountaintop offered. She looked so very _Demacian_ in that moment, aside from the blank expression on her face, and Talon stood silently across the lane, both of them watching each other without a word offered from either.

She looked much different here than in the Institute.

It wasn't just the strangeness of the scenery, although that certainly attributed to it; there was no anger on her face when she looked at him now, and she stood straighter, like she was very much unafraid of who she faced. And although Talon had never really thought of it before, he couldn't help but notice -faced as he was with form-fitting clothes, bright hair, and that air of confidence she exuded- that Luxanna was really rather beautiful.

It made his blade arm itch.

He didn't really care for beautiful things, especially beautiful things with a sharp tongue and jealously guarded secrets, and when the match really began a few moments later, he completely ignored the small minions scurrying around his feet (another part of the game he didn't really understand the importance of), single-mindedly focused on one thing.

Killing Luxanna Crownguard.

* * *

She hated the way he looked at her.

To Lux, it didn't feel like she and Talon were on the top of some mystical mountain somewhere; it felt like they were back in the mess hall of the Institute, sharing equal intensity glares while they tried to pry answers from each other with looks alone. It was different now though; now she was allowed to fight back, to wipe that smirk off Talon's face like she'd been itching to do for weeks. She couldn't hurt him permanently, but it would be satisfying to knock him down a peg or two.

She couldn't deny that she was scared, however; as Talon set to slowly dispatching her minions, the blade on his hand and the ones attached to his cloak caught every bit of the sunlight around them, and the sight filled Luxanna with a very familiar anxiety at buried memories of steel splitting her skin.

But she was calm.

Lux remained calm, and when Talon finally moved against her, she was ready.

* * *

It seemed like at first, they were both content to bide their time and gather their strength.

But that wasn't something that suited Talon; he didn't like to wait to kill someone, to prolong their lives when he could just as easily end it. Maybe that was why he rushed into attacking Luxanna so soon, brandishing his blade as he darted from where he was to where she was standing, aiming his arm at her neck.

At least, he tried to.

He didn't get very far before he couldn't actually move anymore, his arms and his legs held still by thin bands of light that shone like the rainbow when viewed from certain angles. Talon stared at the prison in angry disbelief, unable to free himself, and shifted his glare to the only person responsible.

She didn't smirk or laugh, like he would have thought.

She looked deadly determined, and in the seconds after their eyes meeting, she lifted her baton to chest level, one of the most murderous looks Talon had ever seen on someone crossing her face, and his body, as well as the summoner frantically speaking in his mind, screamed at him to move.

And move he did- just in the nick of time.

The spot he'd been occupying was lit by a huge line of blinding light that caught everything it touched (including the edge of Talon's cloak) on fire, the bright, deceivingly pretty rainbow hue of the light a disturbing contrast to the flames that followed. Talon could feel burns along his left side, the side closest to the beam of light, but he did his best to ignore them, because this was his opportunity; Luxanna was distracted, most likely because she assumed Talon was dead in her snare, and in her momentary inattention, Talon whirled, entirely disappearing.

It was then that he understood what Vessaria meant when she said their abilities would be enhanced.

He moved through the shadows themselves, the wide-eyed look on Luxanna's face spurring him faster, closer, until he was at her back and lifting his blade to her neck, separating himself from the darkness. He dragged the blade across her skin in a motion that he'd felt a hundred times before, the familiar warmth of blood on his gloves and the sag of a lifeless body against his chest as he slowly let Luxanna fall to the ground.

Talon's chest heaved, his burns flared in agony, but he felt no relief in her death, no happiness or satisfaction like he had with every other kill he'd ever been a part of. Even though it was temporary, even though Luxanna's lifeless body would reanimate and return, it disturbed Talon in a way he'd never experienced.

He learned nothing from killing her.

He was no closer to learning who she really was or any closer to any of the answers he sought from her, and if she was dead, those answers were hers forever, and hers alone. She was dangerous, obvious enough from the kind of magic she was capable of, but Talon realized outside of the Rift, he could never actually kill her.

He didn't want Luxanna Crownguard to die.

* * *

Lux had imagined dying a million times since being drafted in the army.

She'd even come close once, early in her career, but nothing she'd experienced compared to what she felt now. She'd thought she had him; when she snared Talon and she saw the fury melt to worry on his face, she had prepared herself to release the most dangerous parts of her magic, and she'd honestly convinced herself that Talon was the one that would perish.

But he disappeared the second her snare faded. She searched frantically, but she couldn't see him anywhere, not one sign of his cloak, his blade- nothing. She'd quickly realized that she couldn't hide from sight on the Rift like she could outside of it, and she'd sat there, choked with panic and awaiting the worst.

And it was every bit as terrible as she imagined.

She couldn't see Talon when he finally appeared, but he wasted no time in lifting his blade to her throat, and before the pain, before the darkness, before anything, was the terrible, nauseating feeling of metal pressed to her throat, and the knowledge that the person wielding the blade wanted nothing more than to watch her die.

And die she did- for a time.

Being brought back to life was the single most disturbing thing Lux had ever experienced.

It felt like to her that no time at all had passed since she died; she remembered pain, and then she was back on the summoning platform, every bit as pristine and unharmed as she had been when she was first summoned. She wasn't gasping for air, she felt no pain, and even though she felt along the front of her neck, there was no mark where Talon's blade had been. There was only smooth skin just waiting to be split again. Her summoner told her to move forward, chastising her for her carelessness when it came to facing Talon, and Lux followed the instructions on leaden feet with the feeling that she was walking to her death again.

She could still remember the awful, debilitating pain right before she died, and the thought that she would have to endure it again was almost enough to make her freeze where she was and call for a surrender.

But she couldn't do that.

She couldn't force the rest of her team into a loss because she was afraid; and hadn't she decided that she wasn't afraid of Talon? This wasn't real. The death, the pain, anything on the Rift; it wasn't real, no matter how convincing it was.

Lux honestly tried to believe that, but the moment she was faced with Talon again, the pain returned, reminding her again and again what it felt like to die. She was jumpier now, every movement of Talon's causing her to preemptively waste her snare. At first, it seemed like he didn't intend to strike her again; for several minutes, they faced off, wordless and tense, but neither of them actually moved to kill the other.

Until Talon decided that he preferred killing to idleness.

Just like the first time, Talon would wait until Lux had made herself vulnerable and easy to pick off, and then he would descend upon her, sometimes throwing his knives, sometimes finding different ways to cut into her with the one on his arm. Lux was forced to endure death after death and a seemingly never-ending pain until the game neared a close, Talon's team mercilessly pushing for the win.

Lux was content to let them.

She was ashamed to have let down her team, but she couldn't stand to feel Talon's blade on her skin anymore. She'd only been able to bring him down once that game in a blinding, fiery blaze of light, and the feeling she was left with in no way made up for the pain she had experienced; if anything, it only made it worse. She wanted off the Rift, out of the match, she wanted to be separated from the summoner that berated her for her deaths.

She wanted to be away, away, away from Talon.

It felt like ages before the match actually did end, and she avoided the eyes and concerned stares of Quinn, Garen, and Jarvan, all of whom had been on the team that Lux let lose. For the first time since joining the Institute, none of them commented on what happened, none of them mentioned the loss, Lux's deaths, or even their own experience with death; they were silently transported back to the Institute, and there was not a single word that passed between any of the sullen champions.

Back in the summoning chamber, none of the champions looked worse for wear; their armor was clean and unmarked, their skin was smooth, and the only sign that any of them had experienced what they did were the haunted looks in their eyes. A summoner greeted the returning team, someone Lux knew was just under Vessaria in terms of importance. He greeted them with a smile, like he didn't know or didn't care what each of them had just been through.

"Welcome back, and congratulations on completing your first match as a champion of the Institute of War! Although the loss is regrettable, you will have plenty of opportunities to amass victories in your name in the future. If you'll come with me…"

As the summoner led them out of the chamber and down the connecting hallway, Lux remembered something Vessaria had told them before the match; afterwards, in honor of completing the first match the Institute had seen, she wanted both teams to congratulate each other in a show of forced sportsmanship.

It made Lux sick to know she was going to have to see Talon again so soon, even though she knew he couldn't hurt her here; she tried to stand straight and keep her chin up in mock confidence, because she'd suddenly had enough of letting Talon reduce her to a scared mess. She'd embarrassed herself in the match and let herself fall prey to fear yet again, and as Lux walked, a shameful regret replaced most of the fear, and after that, fresh anger; anger at herself for giving in so easily, angry at Talon for making her feel that way, angry at the world for forcing her into these circumstances.

They quickly came to a room where Talon's team was already waiting, the two small yordles smiling despite everything, Talon and the other man with a cowl hiding their faces from the small crowd of summoners and champions, and Darius glaring derisively at everyone present, especially Garen, who had laned against him. They lined up in parallel rows, lane facing lane, and Lux evenly met the stare she could feel from Talon, even if she couldn't see it, her shoulders straight. Vessaria said a few things about a game well played, but not a lot of the people present seemed to share her enthusiasm. At her prompting, they all reached a hand out to their opposition, almost all begrudging, mumbling words that Lux couldn't hear.

Not that she would have noticed, anyway.

She stiffly held a hand out to Talon, holding it aloft for a moment or two before he followed suit, pressing his glove to hers and applying an almost gentle pressure, wordless as he had been during the match.

It made Lux so _angry_ that she'd let him best her, over and over, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on Talon's hand, unable to keep her fury off her face. If he noticed, he chose not to comment, quickly retracting his hand from her tight grip and turning his face so that he wasn't looking at her anymore.

"Good game, Crownguard."

There was no sarcastic snap to his voice like she'd come to expect and she got the distinct feeling that he wasn't happy with his landslide of a win, but he strode away before she could answer, following the rest of his team out of the room along with most of the summoners. Lux's team watched them go, a collective bitterness over them all, aside from Karma, and they all separated after that, heading in their own directions to sulk. Lux felt badly in need of a shower or a nap or _something,_ so she went straight to her apartment, ignoring the fact that her body cried for food. She didn't want to risk running into Talon or Garen or anyone else, really; she didn't even want to see Quinn, angry as she was.

Lux just wanted to forget.

* * *

 _ **A/N: a couple things about the rift. I didn't include items because I thought that that would be something the summoners handled, not the champions. When I imagine the Rift in fics, I've always thought that the summoners 'bought' items, like (in Talon's case) a cleaver or something, but there's no physical cleaver for Talon to carry around. His strength just increases in the game, if that makes sense. I also don't think the summoners actually control the champion's movements and the champions can pretty much decided for themselves where to go and what to do. Since they don't control the champions themselves very much, I think the whole item thing gives the summoners something to do during the match instead of just whispering sweet nothings in the champion's heads. Like I said in response to a review above, the summoners are very bored people when not actively participating in a match, and they like to mess with the champions, which is a big contributor to why Lux and Talon were picked for the match, and why the teams were Noxus against Demacia/Ionia. Sick humor.**_

 _ **If you can't tell, I hate my fictional summoners.**_

 _ **As for the champions currently apart of the League- you know the Demacian and Noxian champs, and currently the rest are as follows.**_

 _ **Bandle City- Lulu, Tristana, Viegar and Ziggs.**_

 _ **Ionia- Karma, Irelia, Lee Sin and Soraka.**_

 _ **Unaffiliated- Jax and Morgana.**_

 _ **Those forced into/held captive by the League- Brand and Nocturne.**_

 _ **I think that's it for now (I feel like I forgot something, but whatever) and if you have any questions, lemme know! Toodles!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N: If you guys noticed, I changed my name for personal reasons. It's pretty close to the original, so hopefully no one is confused!_**

 ** _Guest- It's for some good ol' predictable character development, so I bet any predictions you have will probably be pretty close._**

 ** _Guest- asdfghjkl, YOU rule. Thank you so much ^-^_**

 ** _Nic- I don't imagine Lux's laugh like that at all, same with Talon's :p In game they're pretty goofy. I don't think Lux is crazy (which is a pretty relative term, anyway) and I'm hesitant to push her character any certain way, because I've been imagining this fic for a super long time, and I have a pretty good idea of what I want her to be like. But, I'm glad you like the fic so far!_**

 ** _Antonio - A Fanfiction Reader- Ahhh don't feel obligated to review! I just want everyone to know that I appreciate them and to not feel bad about long reviews, because I love em. I'm glad you're still here!_**

 ** _Adonna2424- He's definitely creased his pants many times, no worries there. Right? There's just something about muscly Noxians-_**

* * *

Talon found himself looking for Luxanna a lot after that match.

Not searching for her, exactly, but every time he was in the mess hall, or training with Kat, he half expected to see her scowling at her breakfast or marching up to him in the training room like she had before, but over the course of the following week, he'd seen her nowhere.

It wasn't something he ever would have noticed before, and it was hard for him to pin down why exactly he was noticing now.

In a way, he felt responsible for her disappearance; that black fury he remembered on her face after the match was directed at him, because he'd spent the better part of thirty minutes cutting her throat at the urging of his summoner. Maybe that was why the whole ordeal made Talon feel so… on edge; killing Crownguard during that match had been completely, utterly pointless. He gained nothing from killing her, the summoners gained nothing, his team gained nothing…

And since Talon very much doubted he ever would have had a reason to kill Luxanna before the Institute was implemented, it wasn't like her death served a purpose towards peace, either.

The longer he went without seeing her, the more he wondered why Luxanna had subjected herself to the match in the first place. The summoners had done a good job of not sugarcoating what to expect, and he didn't think the deaths they experienced affected anyone as much as they affected her. The yordles, the rest of her team, even he himself when Luxanna had managed to kill him once; it wasn't pleasant, certainly, but he didn't feel any of the anger he'd seen on her face after the match, or any of the petrifying fear that had gripped her during the match itself.

It just didn't feel right.

He didn't think that he was wrong about Luxanna; he still got the distinct feeling that there was more to her than she was letting on, and if anything, her actions during the match attested to that; the emotions she displayed he'd seen hundreds of times on the faces of Noxians, because every single Noxian had been subjected to war at one time or another, and droves of them came back permanently changed. The look on Crownguard's face after her first death was identical to the one you might see on war-scarred veteran who jumped at the flash of blades after having been on the wrong end of one.

It meant that in some point of her life, Crownguard had learned to fear the touch of a blade.

Which, _again,_ starkly contrasted the noble scholar she was posing as. Luxanna had also killed him with that bright, burning magic of hers with none of the hesitation of the inexperienced, and she'd finished the match with the rest of her team, not once giving up.

Talon was burdened with a hundred new questions since the match, with answers to none; Luxanna was seen nowhere with her brother or with the ranger, and when it came time for people to volunteer for the second match (something Talon himself declined to do) he hadn't seen her skirting the halls afterward, either.

Where exactly had Crownguard disappeared to?

* * *

For the better part of a week, Lux hadn't felt inclined to leave her room at all.

It was the same non-productive way she dealt with anything terrible that came her way; solitude was Lux's answer to the world when things became too much for her to deal with.

Right now, Talon was one of those things.

She very much doubted the things he did to her during that match were personal, but she couldn't completely discount the idea, either; he had more than enough reason to dislike her, and during her brief interactions with him, that was the feeling she got. But that wasn't exactly it; he wasn't happy when the match was over. Not out of remorse, she was sure, but _something._

Not something she was sure she wanted to find out for herself, currently.

Talon was a curiosity to her, but when she thought of him now it was hard to get past the memory of his blade against her neck. Her own need to know more about him and why he did the things he did paled in comparison to the weight of that memory.

She couldn't just forget it, either.

Lux had a few memories she'd forced into obscurity, but it felt like the longer she was at the Institute the harder it was to keep them that way. Her judgement, for example, was a memory that only resurfaced in the darkest of her nightmares, and since being faced with it again for the amusement of some summoner, it had haunted Lux with a clarity it hadn't in almost a decade. And now Talon threatened to do the same, although unknowingly. It made Lux (not exactly social in the first place) painfully reluctant to do anything outside of hiding.

But this wasn't what Lux wanted.

She didn't want to hide anymore, she didn't want to be angry with herself for losing the match, she didn't want to be scared of Talon; she wanted to visit the library, she wanted to spend more time with Garen, she wanted answers to questions that only one person could provide.

Lux shifted in her bed, the grey blanket covering her falling away from her baton just slightly, revealing the tight grip she had on the metal. She thought of leaving her room as her eyes followed the familiar curves of the metalwork, and as her baton often did, it calmed her enough so that she could entertain the idea without immediately rejecting it.

She wanted to see Garen, but she didn't want to face his questions about the match, should he have any. She wanted to get something more substantial to eat, but was immediately discouraged by the thought of the crowded mess hall. The library was the most appealing destination to her, but it was no small distance from her apartment, and between there and here were, most notably, frequently habited training rooms.

It wasn't like she could feasibly avoid him forever.

It would be better, actually, if Lux confronted Talon now before she let herself grow too afraid. Fear was the kind of thing that festered if you let it, which Lux knew all too well, but it wasn't exactly easy to face it, either.

But it wouldn't _really_ be her first time confronting this particular fear.

She'd been afraid when she was in Noxus with him and she'd been afraid when she saw him in the library, and both times she'd faced him after until that fear was gone. It was replaced by a bitter anger and growing annoyance, but to Lux, that was preferable to fear any day.

And she wanted to see if she could.

She still didn't feel like she had anything to prove to anyone at the Institute, but she had plenty of things to prove to herself; it was important to her that she didn't let Talon of all people keep her down.

It was easier for her to decide what to do than to do actually do it; it felt like she was dragging when she got out of her bed and got dressed, and she hesitated at the doorway with her baton held loosely in her hand.

There was a good chance she wouldn't even see him.

Talon spent his time _in_ the training room, not walking around outside it, so it was actually more than likely she wouldn't encounter him at all. Lux felt like lately her life was full of inconvenient coincidences, but she opened the door anyway, leaving her apartment behind.

* * *

"At least I got in this time."

It had always amazed Talon how easy it was for Katarina to speak when she was trying to kill someone.

He didn't answer her as he dodged a dagger aimed at his throat, or when he in turn leveled his at Kat; he didn't feel inclined at all to carry on Kat's conversation as they moved around the training room, until eventually she shoved her blade against his, putting some distance between them and effectively ending the brief duel. Only then did he pick up where Kat had left off.

"I don't think you'd be missing anything if you didn't."

Kat had really been put out about not being picked for that first match, and she'd been mostly sulking while she waited for confirmation that she would be included in the second. She'd dragged Talon back to the training room that morning, burning off her excitement in what Talon was sure wasn't the healthiest of ways. Kat watched him while he inspected a small nick on his forearm, sticking a hand on her hip.

"You seemed to enjoy it. You really ripped into the Crownguard girl."

Talon's fingers paused over his skin while he thought of an appropriate response to that, and when none came, he wiped away a drop of scarlet with the pad of his finger. Katarina was still carefully watching him, and he gave her an annoyed glance from the corner of his eye.

"Watch it next time."

She shrugged like it wasn't her fault, and Talon moved to where he'd left his cloak, assuming that Kat was done for the day.

She was done training, at least.

"Really, though. What's her deal?"

He didn't pause this time, because he had literally no desire at all to discuss the match with Kat.

"You're just mad she got picked over you."

He heard her snort derisively behind him, but closer, like she was following him across the room.

"Not even. But if I _was_ picked, I wouldn't have bent over for you like she did. That was just sad."

He rolled his eyes, but he was annoyed that she wasn't dropping it.

"You're disgusting."

She didn't say anything as Talon picked up his cloak from where it was hanging, flicking it behind him and focusing on the clasp in front of his neck. His fingers moved through the familiar motion faster than usual, and he turned to where Kat was standing a few paces behind him. She was smirking, but that was basically her default expression- it didn't really mean anything unusual, but she had that look on her face like she knew she was annoying him and didn't want to stop. The only way to really break off a conversation Kat was stubborn about pursuing was to piss her off, which, thankfully, was incredibly easy and something Talon had plenty of experience doing.

"I doubt it would have gone much differently if it was you."

The desired effect was immediate; she huffed as she stalked away, daggers in hand, to train by herself, and Talon was relieved to be free of her. He considered finding another training room as he left Kat behind, but the idea lost its appeal as he walked slowly through the halls.

He still hadn't gotten used to the eerie emptiness of the Institute; he'd lived with Kavyn most of his childhood, and even though he lived alone after that, the slums were never short on people. The Du Couteau household, even, was always full of a few people at the very least. He would have normally liked the solitude, but something felt so profoundly wrong about such a large building being practically deserted.

His thoughts drifted again as he walked, not focusing on anything in particular, and Talon thought it was his inattention more than anything that made him take a turn in the hallway a little too fast, and without really looking up to check if anyone was there.

There was a soft thump against his chest as he collided with someone going the opposite way, and he instinctively grabbed their arm with his left in an attempt to steady them, backing up a step to put space between him and who he'd run into. Lucky for them, his right arm was kept tightly to his side, or the unfortunate stranger would have had much bigger problems. He looked at who he now held at arm's length, fingers stiff around their arm.

It was no surprise to him that it was Luxanna.

She, however, looked _very_ surprised; she backed a more comfortable distance away from him, and jerked her arm out of his hand when she realized who it was. She had a tight grip on her baton, like always, and she lifted her chin with that imperious look on her face when Talon didn't move out of her way. She looked tired; there were rings under her eyes, and her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail riddled with flyaways. It was strange being around her, because there was something about the way she looked at you that made you feel like you had to say something, like you owed her an explanation just for looking at her, and that was something he felt even now.

"Crownguard."

But being as Talon didn't actually have anything to say to her and she looked in no mood for any of his usual questions or sarcastic banter, he settled for the first thing that popped into his head. Clearly it was the wrong thing to say, and her tired features contorted into that signature angry frown. She mumbled something under her breath as she pushed around him, and even though she was trying to move quickly away, it was easy for Talon to keep pace.

"What?"

He might have just let her leave if he caught what she said, but as it was, she mistakenly had his attention now.

"I said that's not my _name._ "

He rolled his eyes -that was her name to him- but she was talking, and he didn't really want their conversation to end just yet. Not that he would let it, anyway.

"Fine. Luxanna."'

He said it with all the impatience he could force into his voice, and even though Luxanna didn't look at him or acknowledge he'd spoken, she wasn't really moving any faster away from him, either.

"Lux."

He wasn't paying strict attention to where she was leading them; he followed on Luxanna's right side, easily matching her stride, alternating between watching her face and quick glances at the hallway to make sure he didn't run into anyone else. She was careful to keep enough distance between them that she didn't brush the edge of his cloak (even though it was blade-free right now), but close enough that Talon could see her purse her lips, like she regretted saying anything.

Which made Talon want to make her repeat herself.

"What?"

She glanced at him for the first time since they started walking, and the look in her eye suggested that annoyance wasn't the only thing she felt; there was something in that blue that mirrored the scared look in her eye that never left her during the match the other day.

"It's what everyone else calls me… Actually, forget it."

She stopped walking, coming to a standstill fast enough that Talon had to backtrack a step to resume his spot at her side. She had her arms crossed over her chest, brows lowered, and her expression closely matched Katarina's before Talon had left the training room before.

"Did you actually need something? I thought you were going the other way."

Even though he'd been in a relatively neutral mood before running into her, Luxanna's - _Lux's-_ typically superior attitude and bearing egged him into wanting to diminish it, and it was only because of how haggard she looked that he didn't snap at her.

Instead, he planted himself firmly in front of her, matching her pose and crossing his arms, causing Lux's gaze to briefly flick to the blade on his arm that he'd yet to remove. That nervous look in her eye returned, stronger than before, and Talon had the sudden urge to drop his arm.

"I'm curious."

And he was, unsurprisingly, only at the forefront of his questions right now was where she'd been all week, something he doubted she was going to answer.

"That's not my problem."

Anger colored her voice, a lot more than Talon thought the conversation really called for, and he wondered if she was really just resentful that she'd lost the match to him so badly or if she was usually this defensive.

Judging from how she was leaning away from Talon's blade and that she didn't really strike him as the spiteful type, he didn't think that was it, nor did he think she was typically so easy to offend.

"Then what _is_ your problem?"

He uncrossed his arms while he was talking, to the visible relief of Lux, and he felt like he used the wrong word; what Kat said before made more sense. What exactly was Lux's deal?

He had the feeling she knew what he was getting at, because she shifted uncomfortably on her feet like if she didn't think he would follow her, she would have bolted, and her eyes darted behind him like she was trying to quickly find an escape route. Being as there was none, she stayed firmly planted where she was, her eyes flicking back to Talon's with fresh frustration.

"Excuse me?"

This time he ignored the derision in her voice, and spoke with more honesty than he had with her thus far. He gestured to her, from her mussed hair to her boots, almost like that was all the explanation he needed.

"I don't buy it. Nothing about this person you pretend to be makes any sense."

He succeeded in taking her by surprise again, because for a split second her frown broke, and there was no fear or anger on her face; it was replaced by something oddly close to wonder, but before he could really decipher it, she was walking again and hiding her expression. Now when Talon followed her, it was because he felt like he was close to wearing Lux down, and because she hadn't told him to leave her alone again yet; whether or not she was working up to it was another story.

He was surprised when he realized she was leading them to the library, not fully noticing until they were in front of the ornate wooden doors. Lux didn't check to see if he was following her when she went inside, and even though there was no way for her not to know that he was still at her side, she completely ignored him and immediately worked her way into the maze of bookshelves, pausing once to pick a book off a shelf. Talon didn't say anything as they walked, although he was sufficiently confused about why all of a sudden she didn't seem to have a problem with his presence.

Her end destination was that small alcove in the middle of the books, and Talon hesitated while she wordlessly took a seat in one of the chairs; she cracked open the book, pulled her legs up beneath her, and settled more comfortably against the cushions.

If she thought he would leave because she ignored him, she would be disappointed.

He sat himself in the chair opposite hers, another thing she ignored, and retrieved one of the smaller knives attached to the inside of his cloak. He felt closer now than ever to finally prying some semblance of an answer from Lux, and if she thought giving him the silent treatment was going to work, she was wrong.

He could wait.

* * *

Lux didn't read a single word written in the book in her lap.

She was careful to keep her eyes down and not once did she really look up at where Talon was sitting, but she saw the comfortable way he had seated himself, and he'd immediately set to cleaning yet another knife on his person.

He wasn't going to leave this time.

He had never outright said it to her before- that he didn't believe the persona she'd built around herself. _No one_ had ever done that before. She had always been confident in her ability to uphold the farce, and rightly so; for more than ten years, Lux and her behavior had gone unquestioned, and she was at a loss for how to dissuade Talon and his insatiable curiosity.

She really didn't know if she could.

He seemed content to just sit there, rubbing away a spot on the knife, and after a few minutes of awkward silence (on her part), he lifted a hand to tug down his hood so that he could better see what he was doing.

He wasn't paying attention to her right then, so she felt safe lifting her eyes for a moment, studying the face that was so rarely open to see. There was the smallest of frowns on his brow that Lux thought was more attributed to concentration than annoyance, and if she wasn't so uncomfortable, she might have appreciated the chance to observe him. As it was, her eyes briefly traced the curve of his nose and the line of his jaw before returning to her considerably less interesting book.

Again, she couldn't focus enough to actually read it.

She really wanted to at least try to wait out his patience, but Lux was tired; physically tired, most obviously, but also tired of dodging his questions, and more than a little tired of pretending that Talon wasn't right. It was exhausting for her to uphold her façade when there was someone literally following her around and questioning it every chance they got.

Especially when they were right.

Talon was the kind of person that Lux would never want to admit she was wrong to, but that wasn't near to being the most important reason why she still held her tongue. Aside from Quinn, she had never told anyone any specific details of her life. Garen knew to some degree of her forced servitude, but he was mostly in the dark, just like everyone else was. It didn't make sense for Lux to suddenly break her rule of lies and silence to Talon; what made him more suited to her secrets than Garen? What made a Noxian more important than anyone else in her life?

It took Lux several more minutes of unbroken silence to come up with something that passed as an answer. She'd always prided herself on her brilliance, but this wasn't something she could easily come up with a solution for. It just felt like if she confirmed what Talon thought, that she really wasn't just simply a gifted mage, that she wouldn't have anything else. Her secrets were all she had left right now, since joining the Institute.

But that didn't really feel like a good thing anymore.

It certainly didn't sound healthy, but neither did opening up to a Noxian that had actually killed her before. As it was, Lux's choices were limited; aside from Garen, there was no one else she would ever consider opening up to like she had with Quinn. And she couldn't do that to Garen, anyway. She knew he felt guilty for not being able to prevent her conscription and guilty that he could do nothing about their separation, just like she did. The last thing she wanted to do was burden him with the grittier details of her service.

So, fine.

If Talon wasn't going to leave her alone, there really wasn't anything she could do about it, and if she was going to be forced to deal with him, she might as well be getting something for herself out of it. She'd often heard that speaking about the things that bothered you was therapeutic, and because Lux thought she'd been living with her secrets for long enough, it was worth a try.

She folded her hands on top of her book, looking up at Talon now without trying to hide that she was doing so. He didn't notice at first, but he looked up when she cleared her throat, brushing the hair out of his eyes again.

"No knives."

He really couldn't hurt her outside of a League match, but that didn't mean a blade in his hands didn't make her nervous; she doubted she would ever really forget what it felt like to be killed by Talon Du Couteau.

If he was surprised that she willingly broke the silence, he didn't show it; he simply stowed the knife back where it came from, and even though he could do nothing about the blade on his arm, he at least kept it mostly turned away from her.

She wasn't sure how to continue from there; she had no idea what exactly she was willing to let him know, and she also wasn't sure what she was actually allowed to say. A lot of her secrets were classified information that could put Demacia and herself, as well as her friends, at risk if Talon decided to share it.

For some nagging reason, she really doubted he would.

But, still. It was better to err on the side of caution if this was really what she wanted, so it took her a few minutes to think of something safe to say.

"You're right."

Her hands twisted with fresh nervousness, exacerbated by the fact that she was freely meeting Talon's dark stare. He looked so different when he wasn't angry or snide, and without his hood he looked deceptively… normal.

If she focused just on his face and forgot the blade in his lap, she could almost convince herself that he wasn't a murderous Noxian.

"Right about…?"

Her prolonged pause prompted him to remind her that she hadn't spoken, and she took a deep breath, lowering her eyes to her hands. She reminded herself of what she'd resolved in her apartment; that she was going to confront this, and that she wasn't going to be afraid anymore. Filled with a new confidence at the thought, she tentatively broke the silence, staring at her entwined fingers.

"You're right not to buy it."

She heard him shift in his chair, but she didn't glance up to see what expression was fixed on his face now, or to see if he'd left or something. Considering this was what he'd been bothering her about for weeks, she very much doubted he did. As resolved as she had been just minutes ago to open up a little, she was at a loss now for how to proceed, and any words she came up with felt heavy on her tongue.

And for once, Talon didn't have a constant supply of questions to bombard her with.

"But it's… _I'm_ … not something I can just explain to you all at once. I actually shouldn't be telling you anything, because I sort of hate you."

She'd felt like she hated him more than a few times, like after she'd confronted him in the training room and when he gave her the letter from the summoners about the match. He was usually so infuriating, and his relative silence now was a little disarming. Most of Lux's unease had passed once she said that, and she glanced up, catching the smile tugging at the corner of Talon's mouth. Whether he was smiling because he'd won, in a way, or because he thought it was amusing that she hated him, she couldn't tell.

"If I tell you anything, it's only because you are by far the most infuriating person I've ever met and you wore me down."

He pursed his lips like he was trying not to laugh, and although Lux didn't share the sentiment, she thought that an amused Talon was preferable to an angry one. She expected him to have a comment for that, but he was still uncharacteristically silent, seemingly content to just stare at her.

"Why is it that you have nothing to say now?"

It really didn't make any sense to her, but not much about Talon did. He shrugged, running his left hand through his hair.

"So what exactly do you do, Crownguard?"

She bristled slightly, annoyed, but he seemed genuinely curious, and he didn't say the name with the contempt he usually did.

"I don't do anything anymore, actually."

She'd given up when she decided to come somewhat clean to him, but that didn't mean she couldn't be as annoying as possible about it. It was much more fun to make him work for it than spill everything at once.

And since she'd yet to really erase that perpetual smirk on his face, she had to keep trying.

"So what did you do _before_ becoming a champion?"

Lux pursed her lips, shifting under his gaze, her fingers itching to reach for the baton leaning against her chair.

 _Just say it._

"I was a spy."

A long silence followed the confession in which they simply stared at each other, and Lux squirmed under the intensity of his stare, waiting for him to say something. Lux didn't think he was really grasping how momentous admitting that was for her; he didn't seem to notice any of the guilt Lux felt for sharing a secret that wasn't entirely hers, or any of the relief for finally, _finally_ being able to tell someone. He just tilted his head to the side, examining her with fresh interest, his gaze ravenous.

"A spy."

He didn't even form it like a question; he repeated the two words like he wasn't sure that was actually what she said.

"The best."

He quirked a smile at that, but it was gone almost immediately while he mulled over this new image of Lux the Spy, not Lux the Light Mage.

She wished she could tell what he was thinking, because when Talon didn't actively have a question he was obsessing over, he was awfully silent. It was such a change from what she was used to, and not a change she was sure she liked.

But she admitted it.

She'd _actually_ told someone. Never in her life would she have guessed it would be Talon sitting across from her and not someone she actually knew, but that didn't matter. Lux fought the smile she could feel forming on her face, because she didn't think she would be able to express why that made her so happy.

She was unsuccessful in completely hiding her smile, and Talon frowned.

"What's with the face?"

She shook her head -she couldn't even begin to explain that, not today- and when she had her features more under control she waved a hand at him.

"Are you done? I'm tired."

It was like admitting the secret was physically taxing, as well as emotionally, and she suddenly felt very in need of a nap. Talon looked begrudging, but he nodded, standing so that he could reach a hand out to her.

She fit her palm to his, somewhat nervously, for once not barred by a glove. His skin was rough, especially compared to hers, but not in an unpleasant way, and she pulled herself to her feet and evenly met his gaze.

"Until tomorrow, Crownguard."

Until tomorrow, when he was sure to have plenty of time to think of questions to ask her. Lux wasn't eager (that wasn't quite the right word) but she didn't dread the thought of seeing him. It was also liberating, she realized, to lessen some small part of the burden that her past put on her shoulders.

Even if that meant enduring Talon's sure-to-be-trying company.

Lux tightened her grip on his hand and lifted her chin, actions that confirmed her agreement almost as much as her words.

"Until tomorrow."

* * *

 _A spy._

Talon was awake late into the night, excitement keeping him far, far away from sleep. He kept trying to create this new image of Lux, but it wasn't easy. She didn't look like a spy, but he didn't think he was lying; there was something earnest about the way she told him, and she'd been smiling like she was happy she did it.

It was weird, because it felt like the more he found out about her the more confused he grew, but at least it wasn't like before; she wouldn't be avoiding him anymore, and now that they'd gotten past the frigid barrier that had limited them to one-liners and insults before (exactly how they'd done it, Talon wasn't sure) he realized Lux wasn't as terrible to talk to as he'd initially assumed.

Lux the spy.

The word wasn't synonymous with her sunny, Demacian poster-child exterior, but it fit well enough with the angry Lux who got nervous around knives. It would explain why she was a champion and why she hadn't hesitated to kill him in that match. Spy fit her more than scholar ever did.

And assuming she was a spy that spent any degree of time in Noxus (which he was sure she had, judging by how generally at ease she seemed to be around him and that Demacia had only ever been at war with Noxus) there was a chance, slim as it was, that she might know something he and Katarina didn't about the General's disappearance.

Talon ran his fingers through his hair, something he did when he was distracted or nervous, his eyes focusing on nothing in the dark of his apartment. Since coming to the Institute, he learned quickly that there wasn't anything here for him to use to find the General, and his initial purpose for joining (aside from Katarina volunteering him) was seemingly lost. Now there was one small, faint glimmer of hope, and for the first time in weeks, Talon felt like he was on his way to doing something productive.

Killing Lux was pointless, but unearthing her secrets was the purpose he needed.


	13. Chapter 13

**_A/N: Jimpanfrog- Because Tristana is adorable and Teemo is the worst thing I have ever seen._**

 ** _Guest-That's what I like to hear :)_**

 ** _A fan- Thank you! That's amazing to hear ;-; I'm so glad I could help at all._**

 ** _Naovan- Thanks! I've just been having a lot of fun writing this fic and I've wanted to do it for a while, so that's why updates are pretty short. Writing Talon is definitely fun! Thank you ^-^_**

 ** _Nic- We're getting there!_**

 ** _Adonna2424- Thank you! Slowmances are honestly my favoriteee thing to write, along with fluff. Thanks for the review! (Both of them)_**

 ** _FlabberJiggles- Thank you so much!_**

 ** _TheMixKage- Thank you! I'm really trying to be careful about not going to fast, so I'm actually super psyched people are good with the pacing._**

 ** _Sundavr- Thank you so much! You'll see eventually ^-^ I'm trying to pick up Talon myself, which is kind of hard for an almost exclusively aram player… But I hate shaco . I'm on NA, sorry :c_**

 ** _Ulcaasi- Oh definitely not, I've seen plenty of people pull it off, but I am tragically lazy, which is not a very good excuse honestly. As long as it wasn't painful to read, I'm satisfied! We have to give him points for trying, ey? I know! I'm so spoiled, I'm always used to a review from you before I update, but it's been forever since I've updated a story weekly…_**

 ** _Enjoy, friends!_**

* * *

Lux was surprised how excited she was come morning.

She'd slept better than she had most nights, and most of the tired lines and dark rings around her eyes had eased, enough that by the time she left her apartment, she looked decently presentable.

The day before, she had assured Talon that she would be awake long before he was (with an air of haughtiness like it was an accomplishment) and told him to meet her back in the library. It seemed like the best place for two people who probably shouldn't be seen together to be; Lux had never seen another champion inside the library besides Talon, and she felt more comfortable in the dim maze of books than anywhere else.

She didn't see anyone on the way to the library, but she didn't expect to, and she let herself inside undisturbed. She tugged her sleeves over her wrists against the chill the library usually offered, not bothering today to stop to find a book. She was too excited to read, and almost too excited to wait; she had spent a lot of time the night before and the walk to library this morning just thinking, trying to imagine the things that Talon would ask her, and thinking of responses to the imaginary questions. She felt a lot of things: excitement for doing something she definitely should not be doing, trepidation that she wouldn't know what to say or that Talon would ask something too personal, but not once did Lux feel any regret.

She just couldn't justify it.

Her life had been mostly "do this, and do it this way", and Lux had rarely ever spoken out of term or openly defied an order given to her. As a champion, she felt different; it was easier for her to distance herself from who she was in Demacia and what was expected from her there and to begin to slowly, painstakingly build an image of herself, _by_ herself.

It was slightly regrettable that the process had to start with a Noxian, but Lux figured if she could become comfortable around someone whose every personality trait was tailored around making people uncomfortable, then eventually working up to doing the same thing with Quinn or Garen would be much easier.

Lux settled in her usual chair, resting against the soft cushions and laying her baton almost gently across her lap; she made sure it was well within arm's reach today, not wanting to leave it on the side of her chair like she had yesterday and being too nervous to reach for it. She smoothed her hands over her hair (too long, falling well underneath her collarbones), nervously straightened her sleeves, and then returned her hands to her baton, her palms slick.

Idleness didn't suit a nervous mind.

Lux spent exactly twenty-six minutes adjusting the way she was sitting and picking imaginary lint off her shirt, until Talon near-noiselessly found his way to where Lux was sitting. He fell into his chair with an air of fatigue, immediately slumping into the cushions, lifting a hand that was thankfully blade-free to his face and rubbing his eyes. Lux couldn't clearly see his face, shrouded as it was, but he let his hand drop to his lap with a sigh, and everything about his demeanor screamed 'tired' to Lux.

"You look terrible."

Lux wasn't one to miss an opportunity, no matter how awful Talon looked, but she almost felt bad when he didn't even have the energy to supply a retort.

"Didn't sleep."

Lux almost felt obligated to politely inquire why, until she remembered that she and Talon weren't friends and that he definitely wouldn't be expecting her to. She much preferred the sarcastic rapport they usually had going, but in the interest of being somewhat decent, she didn't push him.

Talon only needed a second or two to sufficiently collect himself, and he tilted his head at Lux, eyeing her like he was deciding where best to start. There was just something about not being able to actually see Talon staring at her that made Lux's skin crawl, but she forced herself to sit still and meet where his eyes should have been.

"I'm confused about how you got into Noxus at all."

It was incredible how fast he could go from tired to degrading- easily Talon's best talent.

She was focused on maintaining her collected demeanor, however, and she evenly answered Talon's question.

"Because it's easy to sneak into Noxus when no one can see you."

Lux wouldn't admit it, but she was trying to surprise him, and she was sorely disappointed when he didn't visibly react. He just accepted what she said (even as vague as it was) like it made perfect sense, and that invisible mages snuck into Noxus all the time. He nodded his chin at the baton, and Lux instinctively curled her fingers tighter around it.

"And what exactly does the wand do?"

Although she bristled at the word 'wand', she tried to think of an answer that would make the most sense to him. To Lux, her baton was much more than just simply a tool, but that would be harder to explain; it was the only thing she had owned with any degree of permanency, and it had saved her life on more than one occasion. It comforted her in a way nothing else could, but it also had obvious practical purposes, and that would be easier for Talon to understand.

"It's like a conduit for my magic. It's stronger if I use the baton, and my magic is… dangerous, without it. Unpredictable and difficult to control."

Light magic wasn't typically the kind of thing that people thought was dangerous, but Lux knew -and now so did Talon- just how deadly it could be. Before Lux got her first baton she was too young to really do anything harmful with her magic, but when she was enrolled in the College of Magic she was taught how to be purposefully destructive, should she have to, and even more so when she was officially in the military. The baton was intended to be a very dangerous weapon in the right hands.

Again Talon was silent for a minute or so, mulling over the information, but his follow-up question was one Lux wasn't expecting him to ask.

"Have you ever done magic without it?"

She had expected him to be skeptical of her when she told him how dangerous her magic was without the baton, not to fully accept it, and she pursed her lips as she hesitated to answer. She badly wanted to lie so that she could potentially avoid that particular branch of the subject, but what was the point of doing this at all if she was just going to lie when she got uncomfortable?

"Once."

The memory was a dark spot in her mind, her most heavily buried, and Lux briefly remembered blinding light and equally blinding pain before once again the memory slipped away. _Once_ had she ever been forced to use magic without her baton, and after that, she made sure to never, _ever,_ be put in a situation where she'd be separated from it again.

She had expected Talon to pry and ask why only once, what happened, where she was, and everything else that would come with an answer like that, but it was almost as if he felt what she did; that she was currently completely incapable and unwilling to recall the memory. Lux tried to subtly rub away the chills that had crept along her arms, and she felt that even that small movement didn't go unseen by Talon.

"So how does it work… not being seen?"

Lux visibly exhaled in relief, grateful again that he sensed not to pursue the previous subject. This question, at least, was much easier to answer.

"Well, we see things because light bounces off of them, but if it never gets the chance, you can't see it. So I don't let it."

It was, by far, the simplest way she'd ever described it before, but Talon didn't seem to mind the abridged explanation. She couldn't tell if he was trying to decide if she was lying or not, or just thinking of another question.

"Why were you picked to be a champion? Does Demacia not have another spy or soldier they could send instead?"

Lux wasn't sure if he was trying to offend her (although it certainly felt that way) and when she answered there was more than a touch of pride in her voice. She didn't endure the things she did so that a Noxian could look down his nose at her, purposely or not.

"I wasn't kidding yesterday when I said I was the best spy in Demacia. Why would they pick anyone else?"

Lux felt like she said exactly what Talon was expecting her to, but he was still slouched in his chair, mostly unmoving. The only thing Lux could see were his fingers continuously tapping against his armrest, the kind of noise that, once you noticed it, put you on edge.

"What kind of track record does the best spy in Demacia have?"

This time, Lux wasn't so quick to answer. This is where things got tricky; they were broaching classified territory, and again Lux was forced to decide if this was what she wanted, because anything she said now couldn't be taken back. She was doing this -answering his questions- based on her sparse knowledge of Talon himself; that he was a loner assassin in every sense of the word, and that he wasn't operating under High Command's thumb. She knew he was from the slums, and the people that lived there all had a very deserved and very deep hatred of High Command.

Generally.

But Lux was forgetting that High Command wouldn't really be able to do anything with the information, anyway; the war was over. If Noxus initiated it again, then they would face repercussions from the Institute itself. The thought supplied Lux with a modicum of comfort, enough that she felt confident to continue. She tried to recall the finer details of her earlier deployment, although a significant amount of her memory was buried or unreliable; it felt like she was picking through darkness to come up with anything substantial.

"I didn't do anything important at first; mostly low-level reconnaissance about troop placements and supply routes. I was sent into High Command when the war in Ionia escalated. After that, I was deployed around people of interest- suspicious nobles, ascending politicians. Things like that."

She said it all very blasé, but the importance of what she said wasn't lost on Talon. He leaned forward, his fingers no longer tapping staccato notes against his chair. He opened his mouth like he was about to ask a question, but paused, almost like he forgot it, and his tone of voice suggested he had initially missed something obvious.

"Wait- the war in Ionia? And you were deployed before that? How long have you been in the military?"

Lux was struck yet again by Talon's thought process; she would have assumed that most people would be more interested in the other things she'd done and the grittier details of her service, but Talon picked the things from her answers that always seemed to lead to the darker bits of her past. She fidgeted, bordering uncomfortable, and she was glad that Talon's stare was hidden. Lux's first instinct was to lie, like she'd always done, and forcing an honest answer out of her mouth felt strange and unfamiliar.

The conversation was only getting more difficult- not easier, like she anticipated.

"Eleven years- twelve if you count while I was being… scouted."

Almost twelve exactly, soon- the anniversary of her conscription was the same day as her approaching birthday. The word "scouted" didn't feel right when applied to what had actually happened, but she didn't have another word for people planning to force a child into the military, and scouted seemed as good as any other.

She still couldn't see Talon's eyes, but she could feel them, and she wondered what was running through the mind beneath the hood- just like she always was, now that she thought about it.

"How old are you, Crownguard?"

She knew that it was an obvious follow-up question, but that didn't stop her stomach from turning, a feeling that was exacerbated by the fact that Talon's voice had all of a sudden gone uncharacteristically soft. She glanced away, back at her baton, and spoke slowly.

"I'm twenty-three."

He let out a short breath as he leaned slowly back into his chair, and he rubbed a hand over his jaw, the only part of his face that Lux could clearly see. The silence that stretched between her answer and his was painfully uncomfortable and very awkward for Lux, and she wished more than anything that Talon had asked her a different question, or that she'd lied like she wanted to. Not even the constant pressure of her baton against her skin could ease away the feeling that gripped her now.

"I don't know the Demacian age of consent for the military, but I'm going to guess that it's not thirteen."

Not a question. Lux didn't have to answer, but she knew she would.

"It's not."

The implication was clear, since you weren't allowed to join the military at all in Demacia before seventeen, like you would be able to in Noxus. Lux being deployed when she was thirteen (despite how disturbing the thought alone was) meant that she was forced, someway, into service. Forced into _Noxus_ , alone.

Lux had no way of knowing what he was thinking, but she didn't think that it would shock Talon the way it might have any average Demacian citizen; obligatory military service was nothing new to a Noxian.

"Mr. and Mrs. Crownguard were… okay with that?"

There was something strange underlying his voice, like for him the whole thing didn't seem all that outlandish, but he knew that it would be for a Demacian. It sounded like he was trying very hard to really understand the implications of Lux's service. Lux couldn't control her expression this time; she white-knuckled her baton, screwing her mouth up in anger as she thought of just how okay her parents had been with it.

He didn't comment on the mood change, and when Lux had sufficiently collected herself, she looked back up, her gaze meeting that eyeless stare.

"Yes, they were."

Her voice sounded strange, even to herself; an uncomfortable mixture of spiteful anger and sadness, and suddenly Lux had lost all of her newfound eagerness and transformed back into her bitter self. She didn't think she could answer any more questions, not then, but Talon spoke before she could say anything.

"Why don't you ask me something?"

Lux blinked, not sure she heard correctly; it was like he was trying to be comforting, in a weird way, even though he hadn't sounded especially kind. He waved his hand when she hesitated, tilting his head to the side again.

"You're poor company when you're mad, Crownguard. So shoot."

Backhanded and stinted by embarrassment, but definitely an attempt at comfort, and the severe look on Lux's face eased some. The anger was still there, evident in the way she held her baton so tightly, but she was still wondering the same thing she had been for weeks; it might mollify her mood a little to have it answered, and she didn't want to think about her parents anymore.

"I still want to know why you were in the library the first night here."

It felt like ages ago that happened, even though it was just barely a month ago, and the corner of Talon's mouth curved in a very small smile. He rubbed his jaw again, like he needed the time to think through the evidently complex question.

"Why do you think I was there?"

Lux shook her head -that wasn't a question she was sure she wanted to answer at all- trying to pretend that Talon's smile didn't make her want to smile, too. He still seemed reluctant to reply, and Lux rolled her eyes; didn't he _just_ say to ask him a question? She'd picked an easy one, too- or so she thought.

"What, did you get lost or something?"

She hoped it was that, or something _like_ that, and not what she thought initially; although she was certain by now that Talon had absolutely no idea who she was and that Quinn had been right about him (that it was a coincidence he found her in the library), she still wanted it to be confirmed.

Talon was still quiet and just shifted uncomfortably in his chair, looking away when Lux's face finally broke into a small, half-incredulous, half-relieved smile.

"You did!"

Coupled with Lux's relief was the mental image of Talon- tall, imposing Talon, expert assassin and notorious killer- lost in the library. It was beyond ridiculous. He quickly waved a hand at the bookcases surrounding their little area like he could simultaneously wave away his unease, his own smile suddenly absent.

"This place is a maze."

Lux grinned wide and let out a short peal of laughter, aimed half at Talon and half at herself. She had lost so much sleep absolutely _convinced_ that Talon was out to get her, and he was really just lost.

Lost in the _library._

He stiffened at her laughter but didn't snap at her, suffering silently through her amusement. Lux enjoyed the fleeting mirth, and when the last vestiges of it faded away, she eyed Talon with a small bit of seriousness.

"I'm curious though."

He shifted his attention back to her, seemingly more inclined to pay attention now that she wasn't actively laughing at him. Lux freed a hand from her baton, running it from in front of her face to the back of her head.

"What purpose does the hood serve?"

It seemed like, to Lux at least, if you were an assassin you wouldn't want to wear something that could potentially obscure your vision; unless Talon wore it because he really valued his anonymity, which was a decent reason, Lux couldn't really think of anything else.

Talon heaved himself out of his chair, standing straight, and motioned for Lux to do the same. She slowly followed his example, warily setting her baton on her chair, and Talon took a step closer.

"Here."

He held out his left hand to her and lifted one of the sections of the cloak behind him with his right, and he twitched his fingers in impatience when Lux hesitated.

"You asked a question, and I'm showing you."

Lux, still skeptical, slowly placed her hand in Talon's, which he promptly took and placed gently on the section of the cloak. He ran her fingers over a section at the top, near his shoulders, and again over a spot where it would rest near the bottom of his legs. The outside fabric of the cloak wasn't soft, but it was smooth, and where Talon placed her fingers the fabric was tougher, more dense, and wasn't as pliable. Between the top and bottom of the entire strip, the "feathers" of the cloak weren't flimsy, but they weren't stiff, which resulted in the middle of the cloak having plenty of give and allowed the whole garment to move freely.

"It's weighted."

His voice was a quiet murmur above her head, and for some reason Lux was incredibly reluctant to face him while he was talking, and the pressure of his fingers on the back of her hand (light as it was) felt very warm all of a sudden. Talon moved Lux's fingers over the entire section of the cloak one more time, then released her hand and stepped back to his chair, relaxing into the cushions while Lux did the same. He flicked the section of the cloak over his armrest, and Lux waited for him to further explain, unconsciously running the fingers of her left hand over the back of her right.

"It makes it a lot easier to keep your balance when you're… I don't know, running on rooftops."

He shrugged like that was a problem most people had experience with, but Lux shook her head.

"Okay, that makes sense, but why the hood?"

It wasn't like the hood served any purpose for balance or running or anything like that. Again, Talon's lips twitched in a small smile that was gone almost as fast as it appeared.

"Because it makes people uncomfortable. People are much less likely to remember your face if they can't or don't see it."

He tilted his head, tacking his next sentence on like an afterthought.

"If there are witnesses, that is."

He sounded so typically smug that Lux couldn't help but roll her eyes, but she knew that Talon wasn't exaggerating; he was infamous in his own right in Demacia to those who feared an assassin's attention. It was terrifying to know there was an accomplished assassin out there and that no one knew what he looked like.

At least, that was the way it was before Lux had been stationed in their home and Talon had joined the League.

He was right though; it definitely made people uncomfortable when they were talking to someone and couldn't see their eyes.

"And the blades?"

In the match, Talon's cloak had been tipped with smaller versions of the blades he wore on his arm, and she'd seen the bladed cloak once or twice while he was walking around the Institute. Unless they were also part of his "make people uncomfortable" agenda, she couldn't discern their purpose.

"They detach, should I ever need them."

Lux raised an eyebrow, trying to imagine what kind of person would feel the need to literally strap blades to their clothes "just in case."

A Noxian.

"That seems excessive."

To someone like her, a lot of the things about Talon seemed excessive and very, very strange, but she reminded herself that they were two starkly different people with drastically different pasts. It would be weird if he _didn't_ seem strange. Talon shrugged, clearly in disagreement.

"Luck favors those who prepare."

Just one more difference between them; luck held no weight in Lux's mind.

The conversation came to a standstill then, Talon mulling over the information he'd been given, Lux eyeing him with narrowed eyes, her fingers still tracing light circles over the back of her hand.

"Why do you care?"

Her abrupt voice was a little too loud in the silence that had fallen over them, and Talon sat up just a little bit straighter in his chair.

"Care about what?'

Lux gestured to herself, and for reasons she didn't even know, her voice came out angry.

"Why do you care about anything I tell you? I don't understand."

Talon sighed like he'd asked himself the same thing multiple times, but from the prolonged paused that followed, Lux got the feeling that he didn't really know the answer.

"I like to know things."

It wasn't a satisfying answer, not in the least (nor did Lux think it was the entire truth), but it was the first time she could actually relate to the person sitting across from her. It didn't even bother her that Talon spoke of her very offhand, like she was more of a curiosity than a person, because she'd felt that way about almost everyone she met.

And she couldn't fault him for feeling like that, because that's the way she felt about him.

It was just easier to see him as a source of insight into the life of an assassin and not actually a person, because if Lux did that she remembered he was someone who killed because he was told to, and he'd been told to kill her before. No, it was much easier to just answer his mostly-innocent questions and to not think much beyond that.

It wasn't easy for her, however, to shake the heavy feeling that fell over her now; aside from feeling vaguely angry, Lux wasn't in the mood to answer any more questions, and she suddenly craved company that was a little less Noxian.

Intuitive always, Talon could tell easily enough that Lux wasn't going to say anything else, but he waited for Lux to be the one to mention it.

"I think I'm done for today."

They hadn't actually spent a lot of time talking. They were only in the library for an hour or so, and Lux was surprised she couldn't recall exactly how much time had passed; she was usually very good at that. She was sure Talon still had plenty of unasked questions, but he didn't argue with Lux, and he stood this time without offering her his hand. Lux followed suit, straightening up and smoothing her hair with a forced calmness on her face, much to Talon's interest.

She had a request of sorts, before he left.

"I was wondering… Well, assuming, more accurately."

Standing, it was easy for Lux to see underneath Talon's hood because of their height difference, but being able to clearly see his curious stare didn't really put her at ease; his eyes flicked quickly around her face, which was a lot like standing underneath a spotlight.

"If you weren't here, you would be training."

Just like there weren't a whole lot of other places for Lux to be other than the library, she assumed it was like that for Talon, only with training rooms; sometime during the night or their conversation Lux had decided that she couldn't feasibly continue her career as a champion if she let even the slightest sight of a knife paralyze her with fear, and the best way to overcome this fear (and the wariness she still felt around Talon, if she was being honest) was to face it quite literally head on.

And the easiest way to do that for Lux was to be around Talon when he was training.

It would be safe, she hoped, because Talon would have a target that wasn't her, but not strenuous enough that they couldn't still keep up their little question-and-answer. For once, he didn't look like he already knew what she was building up to; there was genuine confusion on his face, which Lux found she enjoyed quite a bit more than she should.

"Most likely. Why?"

It was hard to look down her nose at someone that had nearly a head of height on her, but Lux managed; she felt a little off after what Talon had asked from her today (and what had been left to the morbid imagination), and it was hard for her to dredge up her usual confidence.

"We'll meet in training room four tomorrow- no one else has used it so far."

Lux was aware it was a strange request (demand, really), but she met Talon's gaze without wavering, outwardly pretending it was the most normal thing for her to say.

"What happened to no knives? Because that's what people do in training rooms, you know. They use knives."

In a way only Talon could do, he surpassed Lux's snarky tone, yet again filling her with irritation.

"I changed my mind."

He pursed his lips, suppressing a smile, still confused but accepting nonetheless.

"Of course you did."

He said it so familiarly, like he was indulging a habit of his sister and not… whatever Lux was.

Lux wasn't sure if she liked that.

He waved and left before saying anything else that Lux could over-analyze, disappearing into the library seconds before Lux did herself, thoughts of tomorrow weighing heavily on her mind.

* * *

Talon left the library feeling very unsatisfied.

He didn't want to return to his apartment right away and he didn't want to find Kat, so he wandered slowly in the general direction of the Noxian wing and was grateful that the Institute was empty so that he didn't run into anyone while he was thinking.

And he had so much to think about.

They didn't get the chance to speak about much, and Talon felt like for every one thing Lux told him, there were a hundred other things she wasn't; there was so much she wasn't saying about how she was drafted or what happened with her magic that _one_ time, and she glossed over her involvement with Ionia's war like it wasn't a huge deal.

Talon's thoughts derailed momentarily, and his mouth twisted; he and Kat had lost someone in that war.

Someone that had _volunteered_ for that war, however; something that Lux clearly had not. Talon thought he'd seen Lux mad before, but when he asked about her parents… It was scary, almost, the fury that crossed her face then.

And when she spoke of being without her baton- she was terrified.

Talon didn't have parents of his own to reference, but he guessed that most of them would be strictly opposed to their barely-teenaged children being shipped off to the country they were at war with. If it was a Noxian family, Talon wouldn't have been surprised in the least, because someone perceiving you to be strong enough to fight was one of the highest compliments you could give.

But in Demacia…

It didn't sit right with him as he imagined a younger Lux (even younger than she appeared now, hardly looking her twenty-three years) stalking through High Command, invisible or not. In fact, it was still hard for him to imagine the blonde in Noxus at all, and that she'd been doing it for _eleven years._ She was a veteran in her own right, and she wasn't even twenty-five.

There was so much he didn't understand, but his maddening curiosity was assuaged by the fact that she still wanted to meet with him tomorrow, despite how poorly today had gone. The choice of venue was, again, something Talon didn't get, but he had to admire how determined she'd been, even if he didn't comprehend her reasons. And besides, spending the day idle in the library was nowhere near as appealing as training, anyway.

It was only when Talon was in front of his apartment, his mind still a swirl of Lux-filled thoughts, that he realized he hadn't thought about the General at all.


	14. Chapter 14

**_A/N: I took such a long time writing this chapter because I had, I think, three different ways I wanted it to go, and it was a little difficult to choose which would be best in the long run. Along with that, I also really, realllyyyy wanted to finish a new cover image for the story before I published a new chapter, but I have the worst attention span when it comes to art and it took me forever to finish._**

 ** _I was also really excited to get back to writing, so have two chapters ^-^_**

 ** _Anyway! My response to reviews are below the chapter this time because there were quite a few and some got a bit lengthy._**

* * *

Lux was awake a lot earlier than she would have wanted the next morning.

It was a little disorienting inside the Institute since her apartment was in the middle of the building and didn't have windows, and besides checking a clock, there was no way for her to tell what time of day it was. Still, Lux glared at the absurdly small single-digit number on the face of the clock in her kitchen, quite sure that the exhaustion she felt hinted at an early start to the day.

She dressed snugly before leaving her apartment, perhaps in a small attempt to bring some of the comfort of her bed with her, and most of the walk to training room four was spent readjusting her sleeves over her wrists, and brushing her hair out of her face, and readjusting her grip on her baton.

And worrying.

She wasn't sure if that feeling in her belly was more concern or excitement, but whatever it was convinced her it was best to skip breakfast for the moment. Her walk slowed a bit as she steadily approached the training room, and as was becoming routine, she thought over what she and Talon had talked about the day before.

She'd said a lot more than she intended, that was for sure.

She pinned the blame for that on Talon; he didn't ask much, but what little he did required a decent amount of explaining, and everything he wanted to know seemed to cut to the very quick of Lux herself; she'd only spent a few hours in his company, but Lux felt she'd revealed more to him in that short amount of time than she ever had to anyone else.

Not that she'd had much of an opportunity or inclination to before, but that wasn't exactly the point.

She just felt that it was much more difficult to remain as guarded as she was used to being around him, and the prospect made her nervous; coupled with the fact that they were meeting somewhere she was certain to be uncomfortable, almost painfully so, Lux didn't have the best of outlooks for the upcoming day. But still, she walked on, and even though the training room was out of the way, she arrived soon enough.

The training room, like most of the smaller rooms throughout the Institute, had a small window in the door, although the glass was decoratively frosted and difficult to see through; it was still easy to tell that the light was on inside, and Lux hesitated outside of the door, briefly wondering if someone else had beat them to the room.

Not very likely.

Because there were so few champions joined to the League at the moment, it was easy for Lux (or anyone else that cared to) to quickly figure out who liked to be where. Aside from herself, no one had ever been to training room four.

Which meant that Talon beat her there.

An impressive feat considering what time it was and that even Lux considered it to be early, and she slowly opened the door, careful not to move too quickly lest he be holding something sharp and not paying attention.

Lucky for her, it wasn't an issue.

The training room wasn't very big, hardly bigger than the one Talon had in the Du Couteau mansion, and it was laid out much the same; there was a small table set against the left wall, burdened with things Lux couldn't see, and the wall the door was set into was all hooks and shelves and things of that nature that housed blades and the equipment to maintain them, and one long, dark blue cloak that hung from a peg on the wall very near to where Lux was standing, lengthy enough to be hung near her head and still pool on the floor. Talon was standing in front of the table and turned with the sound of the opening door, giving Lux a better view of what was in front of him; she saw the coffee cup in his hand about the same time she smelled it, and her mouth couldn't help but water. It smelled like the good stuff from Noxus, not the weak, sweet coffee that Demacians preferred, and she wished she had thought to make some that morning.

She didn't focus on the coffee for long, because spread around Talon's hands were an array of knives that ranged on the small side, but were still long and sharp and all uniquely different, and all caught the light in the wicked way only weapons could. She hesitated in the doorway, unable to immediately avert her gaze, only doing so when Talon moved. It took a few strides for him to cross the room and proffer the cup to her, and she stared warily at the inoffensive mug, eyes flicking between the white ceramic and Talon's face.

"You don't like coffee?"

Lux did, very much so, but she wondered why Talon would assume she did, and why he would go out of his way to make her some.

But her curiosity wasn't enough to make her picky.

She reached out her free hand, using the sleeve of her sweater as a barrier between her skin and the burning mug, and blew gently over the top, momentarily breaking through the swirls of steam. The situation filled her with a sense of déjà vu; it was very reminiscent of the first day she'd spent with Talon in the Du Couteau mansion, only their positions were reversed, and decidedly less hostile.

Lux liked it a lot better this way.

"I do."

They eyed each other over the coffee for a moment, both trying to subtly observe the other, neither quite succeeding. It was strange, as always, for Lux to see Talon while not wearing his hood; he had thick hair falling into his eyes, not brushed aside at the moment, and Lux was envious of the fact that he didn't look tired at all, even despite the current time. Something looked off about his eyes, something about the way they caught the light, but he was turning away before Lux could pinpoint exactly what it was, walking back to the table of weapons.

"I don't think training is as interesting as you think it's going to be."

Lux watched his slim fingers pick expertly through the knives laid in perfectly straight rows in front of him, selecting one seemingly at random and holding it up to his eye. Lux smiled a bit wryly to herself; after spending hours a day watching both him and Katarina do just that, she knew quite well how boring watching someone target practice was, but that wasn't her intent for doing this.

"I know it isn't."

Talon paused in his inspection to glance at her from the corner of his eye, but she hid her smile behind her cup, taking a small sip of the liquid that had cooled enough for her to enjoy it. It tasted exactly like something she would have made in Noxus, and filled her with the strangest feeling, akin to nostalgia, which was weird considering how poor all her other memories of Noxus were. Talon didn't ask her to explain her rather cryptic response, instead walking to the middle of the room with his knife of choice, then pushing his sleeves up his arms as he eyed his target across the room. For a moment, Lux allowed her eyes to wander over what Talon was wearing, something she never remembered doing because it was usually covered by the cloak; dark shirt, dark pants, both devoid of any marking or decoration. Completely unremarkable and so different from the gaudy way most Noxians dressed (his sisters included), and the way he looked felt very… _quiet_ , to Lux.

Very fitting, considering how subdued he was when not actively trying to kill someone- and he even did that with a cold calmness that was very quiet in nature.

"Are you usually up this early?"

Lux spoke first because she was genuinely curious (his sleeping schedule seemed nearly as erratic as hers, which was certainly something) and because Talon had readied the knife in his hand, moments away from letting it fly, and she wanted to distract herself.

She looked down at her coffee when he actually threw it, and tried not to compare the sound it made burying itself in the dummy to the sound they made embedding themselves in her own skin.

"Typically."

She heard quiet footsteps cross the room, and shifted on her own feet, sipping from her coffee again. She wished she had somewhere to sit.

"And what does 'typically' depend on?"

Lux settled for sitting on the floor, placing herself to the left of where Talon's cloak was hanging and almost directly parallel to where he himself was standing; she crossed her legs, cradling her cup in her lap and placing her baton on the floor next to her leg, and looked up when Talon was back to where he started, knife once again in hand. His lips twitched into his approximation of a smile, and he paused to think, giving her the feeling he was censoring his answer.

"My job is usually a nighttime thing. If I'm… _working,_ there's a good chance I'd be up about now."

He studied Lux's reaction after that very carefully, his gaze no less disconcerting now than it had been the day before, the opposite of what Lux would have expected. She kept her face smooth but for a small frown as one of the questions she had the first time she ever saw Talon resurfaced.

"Why did you start… your job? I've always wondered."

He shrugged, turning back to his target across the room, but his smile was gone. He didn't seem especially sensitive about it, not like Lux when she was asked about her parents, but his mood definitely seemed worse off than before.

"The same reason anyone from the slums does anything- to survive."

Talon had a way of talking about himself that made it seem like he was casually commenting on a stranger, and not speaking about his own thoughts and experiences; it was uncomfortable for Lux because it was always sad to hear someone talk about themselves that way, and because she knew that was probably what she sounded like herself.

"And after that?"

Talon readied his knife again, solely focused on what he was doing, and Lux hoped he was paying attention. She didn't look away this time, forcing herself to watch every movement, no matter how small. Him actually throwing the knife was a quick flash of movement that, even as attentive as she was being, Lux almost missed; it was followed by an answering thump, and when Lux looked across the room, she was unsurprised to find the knife lodged somewhere that would have been very important if the cloth dummy was a living, breathing person.

Well, not breathing after that.

His eyes were on her when she looked back, and she could endure the eye contact for only a moment or two before she looked away, taking another sip from her coffee.

"Because Marcus Du Couteau bested me, and spared my life. I owed him a debt."

Noticing that he hadn't yet moved to collect the knife, Lux looked up again, unsurprised to find herself yet again the focus of Talon's attention. His explanation seemed very… off, considering who it was in reference to; Talon, to her at least, didn't seem like the kind of person who held honor in a very high regard. Why, then, would he continue to honor a debt even after Marcus was gone?

"Marcus has been missing for years. Is your debt not repaid?"

It seemed to frustrate him that she didn't understand; he walked over to the dummy, his steps louder than before, and when he jerked the knife from where it was stuck he hesitated there, turning the gleaming metal over in his hand.

"The only thing of value that I had for many years was my life, and a few very cheap blades. Marcus could have taken it, but he chose not to. I don't know how to fully explain the depth of that gesture to someone who didn't have to kill to live."

Lux was certainly not someone who had been pushed to the extremes the way Talon had, but she knew what it was to fear for your life, and desperately, even if it was not in quite the same way. She nodded slowly as he returned to his spot, commenting quietly.

"You respect him very much."

She wouldn't say as much, but it felt very obvious to her that Talon's feelings towards the missing Du Couteau were not as simple as he made it out to be.

"He is one of very few."

That sounded right.

"Katarina and Cassiopeia…?"

She wondered about how taking in Talon would have affected the Du Couteau sisters; she knew very little of Cassiopeia, so she couldn't quite imagine what she would have felt, but Katarina had always struck her as haughty and more than a little stuck up; accepting someone from the slums into their home, talented or not, would have seemed like the kind of thing that Katarina would disapprove of.

Talon's mouth twisted, and he twirled the dagger between his fingers a little more stiffly than before.

"Katarina, yes."

When he set up to throw the knife again without further explaining, Lux felt obligated to prompt him.

"And Cassiopeia?"

Lux's own knowledge of her before her brief stint in their household was sparse; Cassiopeia was a pretty socialite who liked expensive things and lavish parties, and didn't seem to have any outstanding skills besides spending money and worming her way into every elite crowd Noxus had to offer. Clearly Talon's opinion of her was not very high, and Lux was curious.

"I've never been her favorite. It's impossible to respect someone who doesn't respect you."

Lux thought that depended on the person, but didn't say so out loud; she was much more interested in other things.

"But you respect Katarina."

He nodded, yet again readying his knife, but he seemed a little less sour than before; at least, he was no longer scowling.

"I feel like I have to- she's very stubborn."

Lux snorted - _that_ sounded like Katarina, alright- but she was getting the same feeling from him about Katarina like she was about Marcus; it wasn't simply respect with those two. Talon spoke before Lux could ask, amidst the repetitive sound of a knife finding its mark.

"What about the other Crownguard?"

It was a very broad question, but Lux sat a bit straighter, aware they were very near to uncomfortable territory once more. Talon didn't elaborate as he crossed the room, but instead of returning to his usual spot, he walked over to where Lux was sitting, taking a seat against the wall just like Lux, only slumped a little more comfortably, resting the hand holding the knife on his knee. He was sitting a little too close to Lux for her to be comfortable, and although she tried to make it as not obvious as possible, she couldn't help but track every movement of the metal twisting between Talon's fingers.

"Do you respect him?"

His hair was in his face again and he was sitting about an arm's length away from Lux, so his expression was somewhat hidden, but Lux frowned; it was a strange question to her, whether she respected her sibling or not.

"Of course I do."

Garen was the type of person most people couldn't help but respect, whether they were related to him or not; he was just a very genuine kind of person, and Lux had never met someone with so obviously pure intentions before.

He looked over at her, momentarily shifting his attention from his hand, studying her expression long enough that she dropped her eyes to her forgotten coffee when it grew uncomfortable.

"But you're not close."

His assumption, although very much true, irked her; his tone suggested he was commenting on something very casual, and not actually something that was an extreme sore-spot for Lux.

"No, we aren't."

She saw him shift from the corner of her eye, but she didn't look up, and she pursed her lips.

"I just never really got a chance to, not because he's a bad person."

She felt defensive of him, even though Talon hadn't insulted him or anything, and it occurred to her that it wasn't very fair of her to react angrily to him inquiring about her personal life when she had just done the same, with Talon reacting a lot more reasonably. She sighed, leaning her head against the wall behind her, once again feeling an inkling or two of regret; she really hadn't considered how difficult these meetings with Talon would get, but she was too invested by now to simply call them off; there was still so much about him that she didn't know.

"You don't have to explain."

Talon was doing that thing again; Lux didn't know why, but he became very… accommodating, when it was obvious that she was upset. Neither of them had a lot of experience with comfort, both giving and receiving, and she assumed that it was just as strange for him as it was for her, if not even more so.

"But you did."

She didn't like holding herself to different standards than Talon, and she felt like she had to at least match him. He made a quiet noise, halfway between a snort and a laugh, and Lux looked over.

"We're not the same, Crownguard."

His tone bothered her, like he was suggesting she was less capable of remaining collected when recalling her past than he was, and she frowned at him, resisting the sudden urge to do something childish, like stick out her tongue.

"Fine. I won't tell you then."

He met her gaze with that irritating half-smile, half-smirk of his, clearly pleased at successfully pissing her off yet again.

If there was one thing she could attest to Talon being good at, it was making her mad.

"You're a little bit infuriating."

'A little bit' was definitely selling it short, but she was finding that the longer he sat there smiling at her, the less and less true it felt, and that was almost more unsettling than anything else they'd discussed that morning.

But she couldn't look away, either.

Similar to her never bothering to notice what Talon wore before, she'd never just sat there staring at his face before, either, and she realized now why it was a bad idea to start.

Without the hood to obscure his face and while he was sitting there in such a benign sort of way, Talon was really quite attractive.

Much more attractive than she thought an assassin from the slums of Noxus had a right to be, and it bothered her that she was distracted, however momentarily, by the set of his jaw and his easy smile, half smirk or not.

"And you aren't?"

His voice (which, now that she was paying attention to things like that, she noted was deep and smooth and altogether very pleasant) was a sufficient enough distraction, and she frowned as she turned her gaze back to Talon's hand, still twirling the knife.

"Not in the slightest."

She was sure she was, but only to him; he was the only person aside from Maddick that had ever bared the brunt of her anger and biting sarcasm, and to her, they both deserved it.

"Difficult logic to argue against; I concede."

As with most of his responses, Lux felt the strong desire to roll her eyes, and readily indulged it; it was a mystery to her how they ever discussed anything serious when he seemed more inclined to sarcasm than anything else.

But as it usually did, the humor dissipated, and Lux was left to decide whether she wanted to answer his previous question or ignore it.

Did she want to dig herself in deeper, or lie?

* * *

He wasn't sure if sitting next to her was his best idea.

She didn't say anything about it, naturally, but she was sitting stiffly and could never meet his gaze for more than a minute or two before looking away. She was staring at his hand now, which he remembered was still holding the knife from before, and during her inattention Talon had a free moment to observe her.

The way she was sitting reminded him of the day of the League's orientation; slightly curled in on herself, and even though she'd had her head resting against the wall before, she held it forward now so that her hair fell over the side of her face. It was the kind of posture that suggested she was subconsciously trying not to be seen, like she was used to shirking away from attention.

Which, he guessed, was not very surprising considering that she was a spy. Twelve years was a very long time to be told you had to be invisible.

She let out a very deep sigh, like she had decided to do something she knew was going to be unpleasant, and she didn't look up.

"I know everyone likes to think that Noxus and Demacia are polar opposites, but they're not, really- if there's anything I learned being a spy, it's that they are more alike than either of us would like to acknowledge."

He wondered where exactly she was going with this, and waited patiently for her to continue.

"It's a very big honor to fight for your country; it's an honor to be strong, even though we see it differently, I suppose. Naturally Garen felt that way, but he was different because he showed a great deal of promise. When he joined the military, he was deployed at great lengths. I saw him twice over three years, before I joined myself."

He noticed the way her mouth twisted when she referred to herself 'joining' the military, but he understood now where she was going with the explanation; it made sense why she and Garen weren't close.

But she wasn't finished.

Her hair was still blocking most of her expression, but a very dark frown crossed her face, puckering her delicate features with anger and regret.

"And after… after I joined, they barred me from seeing him. I didn't think they would enforce it, not at first, but…"

She leaned her head back again so that it was resting against the wall and her eyes were focused somewhere across the room, and Talon stopped turning the knife in his hand, absorbed now with her expression and her words.

"Eleven years."

A dejected whisper, but her frown didn't change, and Talon tried to wrap his mind around someone being kept away from their family (that they wanted to see, anyway) for eleven years against their will. It was difficult for him, someone who knew what they wanted and had the means to get it, to imagine it. It was even more perplexing to him because he now knew that Lux was also someone with the means to do what she wanted; if she could willingly turn herself invisible and sneak into Noxus, then surely she could have snuck through Demacia on occasion to see her brother.

And, on that same thought, she could have left the military and Demacia altogether, if she really wanted.

Talon was confused enough that he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Why didn't you leave?"

It was vague, like a lot of his questions tended to be, but she understood; she set her coffee mug onto the floor beside her, running both of her hands through her hair with another sigh.

"I was scared to, at first, when I was younger; I didn't know what kind of repercussions it would have on Garen. And there was a time when I was a bit older that I actually did leave Demacia, but I came back before anyone knew I was gone."

Now that her hands were free, she could run the fingers of her right hand along her baton, seemingly drawing comfort from the object she was apparently inseparable from. He filed away that bit of the story for later (what exactly had made her want to leave Demacia then?) and listened as she finished her explanation.

"I just… after that… I couldn't. I felt like if there was anything I could do to make it so that no one ever had to be put in my position again, I had to do it. I could have left Demacia, but I wouldn't be helping anybody. I didn't think it would even help myself, at that point; I couldn't have a life in Demacia if I deserted, and I was too young to have a life anywhere else, even if I wanted to. I was stuck."

She smiled a bit wryly now, although it was a very self-deprecating expression.

"Noxus was my only other option, and I would rather live a life of servitude in Demacia than to live there."

It felt like, to Talon, if she was a bit more selfish then none of those things would have been a problem; if she didn't care about Garen or Demacia and only cared about herself, then her options would be more plentiful and she would feel no inclination to stay in Demacia.

If she had been more like Talon, her life would not be filled with the same hardships.

But she wasn't.

She was raised Demacian, raised to think and feel like them, and then forced to live and act as a Noxian; trained in espionage and familiar with war, but burdened with a conscience and a need to do good by others.

A very miserable existence, even by Talon's standards.

Normally he probably would have pitied someone similar to Lux, but nothing about the way she spoke sounded to him like she felt sorry for herself, and most certainly didn't want anyone else to; instead, Talon felt like he was not pitying her, but that he regretted the things that happened to her.

Which was a first.

"I'm sorry."

He didn't even think about speaking; he murmured the words without consciously deciding to, and Lux looked over, her blue eyes still stormy, but some of the darkness from before missing from her features.

He felt the overwhelming urge to touch her then, to maybe reach over and cover her hand with his or brush away some of the gold hair still falling across her cheek, an urge he fought down viciously.

She stared at him, like she was trying to decide if he was being genuine or not, but her expression didn't change and it was impossible for Talon to know if she'd come to a decision or not.

"Thank you."

Apparently, she had.

She was on her feet hardly before she was finished speaking, however, her baton in hand and her expression once again smooth, although he thought that today she finished their conversation in a lighter mood, even considering how it had gone.

"Tomorrow."

And that was all she said before leaving the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Talon moved slowly after she was gone, collecting her abandoned coffee cup off the floor and returning to the table across the room, fitting the knife back into its spot in his lineup and placing the cup on the table top, his fingers curling around the ceramic that was still warm despite the coffee having long since gone cold.

It wasn't getting any easier for him to imagine the blonde in the scenarios she shared with him; forced into the military, barred from seeing her brother, too scared to leave and too righteous to refuse service.

And also clearly harboring quite the secret.

Yesterday, when she mentioned having to use magic without her baton, and today she had said there was something that had made her only once nearly leave Demacia. It could be a coincidence that she refused to elaborate on either and that both times and she had gone stiff and dark, but Talon very much doubted so.

And now that he realized she was hiding something, it wouldn't be long before it became an obsession to him, and becoming obsessed with anything that had to do with Lux would be nothing short of a disaster. There was a reason that neither of them would be seen together, for the same reason Katarina couldn't be seen with Garen, although the circumstances between the pairs were different; regardless of whether it was platonic, like Lux and Talon, or meaningful, like Kat and Garen, the people of Noxus and the people of Demacia did not approve.

A feud was a feud, war or not.

So to continue to see her was surely not going to end well for either of them, and Talon resolved that once he cracked Lux's big secret, he would be done. That was why he pursued her at all- because she was hiding something that he wanted to know.

He nodded to himself, set on his decision, finally releasing the cold cup in his hand.

* * *

 ** _A/N: As always, a special thanks to everyone who took the time to review! It means a lot to me._**

 ** _TheMixKage- Thanks! I have a pretty good idea of how to play him, I'm just super weird about playing new champs because I don't like to do badly with them :( it makes learning anyone super difficult for me. Slowmance is so. Painful. Must. Keep writing. For flufffffff. It makes me incredibly excited to see an email for your review, also!_**

 ** _Glaesii- this review was sooo flattering, thank you so much! It makes me incredibly happy to have inspired you in any way, and I'd love to see anything you draw. I'm pretty sure you can PM me links, and if not and you're on NA, you can always add me on League and link to me there. I'm pretty sure Lux/Talon isn't a thing and it's totally off the wall, but I love it haha. Will do!_**

 ** _A fan- Thank you! I kind of feel the same way- Talon's character changes a lot in my mind, and it's hard sometimes to stick with something. Good to know!_**

 ** _Ulcaasi- Why thank you very much :*_**

 ** _Sundavr-Thank you! Well, hopefully the chapter made sense :o_**

 ** _GarenKat Fangirl- I MISSED YOU. I think the thing I'm most trying to portray is frustration- Lux for being scared, Talon's sarcasm, and both of them being a little frustrated at themselves for being really interested in someone they shouldn't be, and that it's very difficult to find out anything about them because of how stubborn and guarded they both are naturally._**

 ** _Ack, thank you so much ;-; this fic has been so much fun so far and I've had so many wonderful people reviewing, it's really amazing. I can't to hear from you!_**

 ** _Guest- thank you! You are excused, because I think that's a compliment!_**

 ** _Captain Teemo- Well, because the fic isn't about Bandle City :p I'm writing about Lux and Talon, so that's why Demacia and Noxus are developed and Bandle City isn't, because it has nothing to do with them. Each city also has the same number of champions in the League currently and there are (that I counted) 8 Demacians not in the League, and only 5 yordles from Bandle City (and I counted Gnar, who technically isn't). So far, Bandle City wins in representation. 6/18 are mids, and mostly by coincidence, because I thought they would complement the story best. Like I said in chapter 1, I'm deviating very, very far from lore. Hopefully that explains things a bit! Gnar maybe, Teemo never._**

 ** _James Gnar Pwn- the updated version, but if you imagine it with the old, it's fine. #GnarlyPun_**

 ** _Imstillive- First, I checked chapter 12 and I couldn't find the typo, but I'll keep looking. I read the chapter like 5 times and I need to take a break lol. As a Lux player, I can say with certainty that that lane is usually awful lol, except on occasion like you said. I think it made sense for her to lose since the matchup is so uneven and Talon isn't as hindered in game, and because Lux was scared of him. You're right about her doing it for the greater good; I didn't say it outright yet, but that was the reason (and Garen, too) why she didn't just up and leave Demacia, or never come back after a deployment, because it's deeply ingrained in her (and every Demacian) that it's an honor and a duty to fight for their country._**

 ** _I just always figured Talon doesn't like doing things he doesn't have to, or he doesn't deem necessary, like killing Lux, among a crap load of other things (since importance is relative). And he is definitely a romantic, loads more than Lux, but he just doesn't know it yet :^)Lux on the other hand has had plenty of time to grow bitter and jaded, so she just doesn't see things the same. I changed his dialogue from in game because it feels… stiff, I guess? A little weird for someone who grew up on the streets and with someone as sarcastic and vulgar as Kat. That's a big reason why he's relatively patient and intuitive, and just all around mature; it takes a very mature person to deal with Kat, and having two sisters definitely helps to build character. I would also think that the General would want him to be on his best behavior and respectful, and since he's very close with Kat, he's sarcastic to a fault when he's allowed to be. He's also perfected the art of knowing how to comfort/calm someone, but also knowing exactly how to push their buttons (as anyone with siblings probably knows.)_**

 ** _Talon is just very, VERY perceptive, and the Demacians aren't stupid, but just not as wary I would say. Talon's been on edge ever since he could remember, and to be an assassin of his and Kat's caliber you have to be perfectly attentive to things around you. It's a skill of the assassins (who are given a singular target, usually) to be able to focus entirely on one thing and really not miss anything. I thought Talon would be kind of a laid-back person when he wasn't on a job, when he's not angry, and when he's not catching thieving maids, which is why his banter is pretty light-hearted and casual. I also just don't like his dialogue in game a lot, like I said. It feels unnatural :c Talon doesn't know his real age since he doesn't have a family and doesn't know where he came from, but estimates around 25. So, 25 :D (and if you're wondering, Garen is 29, Kat is 27, and Cass/Quinn are also 23.)_**

 ** _As always, thank you tons and I enjoyed the review! If you want to pm me instead, feel free, I love to run on and on about headcanons and stuff. :D Ez and Cass all in good time!_**

 ** _Xoxopigtails- I'm super familiar with lurking on stories myself, and I'm so glad you reviewed! Thank you ;-; I think I've mentioned before, but the highest compliment to me personally is when people compliment my characterization- it always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy c: Thank you so much!_**

 ** _Kat- THANK YOU ;-;_**

 ** _Nic- Of course! I've always thought if you guys can take the time to review, then I can take the time to answer, and I really just love responding to reviews. So, thank you to all c:_**

 ** _Guest- Thank you ^-^_**

 ** _Guest- Awww, I would never leave you guys ;-; I actually saw this review just as I was finishing chapter 15, and I just. AW. I would definitely let you guys know if there was something that would permanently keep me from writing, so no worries! It's super touching to know that you guys are looking out for updates though, hearing that kind of thing makes me to want to write all the more._**

 ** _I said at the top, but I took a break to draw the new cover image, and I was like… really obsessed with making it okay enough that I was happy with it, and I just have problems focusing on singular projects sometimes so it takes me a while. It was also a little weird switching from drawing to writing, so it took me a day or two to get back in the swing of things, but I'm hoping now I'm back in my groove, and updates won't be forever._**

 ** _But, thank you again ;-; It really does help reading reviews like this._**

 ** _To everyone- Thank you for reviewing, like/favoriting, and just reading! I appreciate it all._**


	15. Chapter 15

The next week went much like that first day in the training room.

Lux would rise early in the morning, dress, and head right over to the training room; without fail, Talon would beat her there with a cup of coffee and a dozen or so questions, the topic of which was seemingly picked at random to her.

Where had she lived in Demacia, how did she know Quinn, who were some of the nobles that she had spied on.

The last question led to the first time that she had ever lied to Talon before.

They were sitting in their customary spots on the floor now, Lux again beneath where Talon's cloak was hanging and Talon an arm's length from Lux herself. Although Lux had asked to meet in the training room because she wanted to get used to being around a knife in action, as the week wore on Talon spent less and less time actually training, and more time talking to Lux on the floor. She never commented, because she much preferred the uninterrupted conversation, and neither of them spoke of switching back to the library because the training room felt much more isolated, much safer and farther away from the rest of the Institute that it was almost comfortable.

Lux had listed off the nobles she'd spied on in Noxus, omitting only two, and Talon had paused before moving on with the conversation, not meeting her eye.

"And what about my family?"

Lux had thought many times about whether or not she wanted to tell Talon about the time she had spent with the Du Couteau's. Compared to the other nobles in Noxus, it wasn't much, and she got the feeling from Talon that he was very protective of his adoptive family. She was scared, almost, to admit that she had wormed her way into their family and spied on the only two people that Talon cared about.

He might not want to see her anymore if she told him the truth, and her brief meetings with Talon were all she really had at the Institute, currently; if he got angry with her and decided not to see her anymore…

Lux didn't want to risk it. So she lied.

She had shaken her head, not pausing long enough to arouse suspicion, and lied to Talon with the ease of an expert that had perfected their craft.

"No. My commanding officers had bigger people of interest before he went missing, and after that they saw no need to waste resources on the Du Couteau's."

She remembered him shaking his head like he was personally offended the Demacian military didn't consider him more important, but other than that, didn't question her.

And since then, Lux hadn't thought about it.

Today, a week and a day after their first meeting in the training room, Talon had quickly given up his half-hearted attempts at target practice, again taking his spot next to Lux on the floor, turning a knife (a different one every day) through his fingers.

There had been a lull in their conversation, but Lux had been preparing questions for situations like these; there were a hundred things she wanted to ask him, and any pause in conversation took away from her opportunity to learn them.

"I'm curious."

He rolled his eyes (when _wasn't_ she) but nodded at her to continue all the same.

"Military service is obligatory in Noxus… Six years, if I remember correctly. And you don't strike me as the soldier type."

It was something she had wondered on a few different occasions; she'd never heard of people outside of deserters that didn't participate at some time in the Noxian military, but Talon had been obstinate before about working for no one but himself and Marcus. Since Lux very much doubted that he was the kind of person that worked well in a cohesive military setting, she wondered how exactly that six years had gone.

It was one of those questions that, unknown to the asker, was tied to a personal and very unhappy memory; Talon frowned at his hand, increasing the speed at which the blade danced between his fingers, and it was a moment or two before he deigned to answer.

"I'm not. There were other ways to fulfil your military obligations."

Lux raised her eyebrows- she was prepared for a tale of begrudging footwork as a reluctant soldier, not a secret alternative. He never looked up at her while he talked, and he was visibly unhappy, something he was usually very adept at hiding.

"The General thought that Katarina and I were not suited for work as soldiers- that our skillsets were best utilized elsewhere."

He never paused the movements with his knife, never darted his gaze to where Lux was sitting.

"He was unhappy with the people corrupting Noxus- he didn't like that the underhanded and cowardly were in power, but it was different back then. He couldn't simply cut the infection out, as Darius would now."

Lux listened raptly now, eager for an insight into both Talon's and the mysterious General's past.

"Marcus brought back the Crimson Elite. It was very antiquated, and the Crimson Elite hadn't been in service for generations, but Marcus had a problem and the three best blades men in Noxus at his disposal. The Crimson Elite was exactly our skillset, he thought."

Lux herself had heard of the Crimson Elite, but not the group that Talon himself was apparently apart of; she was only familiar with the group of Noxus' best that, decades ago, had kept Noxus in order and instilled fear in those that threatened it. It was something akin to the Demacian Elite Guard, although the Crimson Elite protected Noxus as a whole, not simply being tasked with guarding a single royal family.

Wait- three?

"It wasn't just you and Katarina?"

Talon stopped moving the knife now, breathing a small sigh.

"Besides me and Katarina, there was one other person Marcus wanted to work for him, and to not squander away their talent on the frontlines of some insignificant skirmish that would most likely end in her unfortunate death."

He glanced briefly at Lux now, very fleeting, then once again focused on his hands.

"Her name was Riven."

Lux was familiar with Riven, but vaguely; she wasn't as well-known as Katarina, or even Talon, but a decent number of years ago she had been an up and coming Noxian poster child, renowned for her choice of weapon and skill with it, and how high her rank was relative to her age. Lux couldn't quite recall why, but Riven had dropped from the Noxian radar, and judging from how stormy Talon had grown, she guessed that the disappearance had not been on happy terms.

"I know the name."

Lux spoke softly, but Talon continued as if she hadn't at all.

"She didn't work for Marcus because of why we did; she agreed to join the Crimson Elite because she believed that Marcus was genuine in his intentions, and that he really meant to better Noxus. Riven cared deeply for her country, and to her, this was the best way to fix it."

She couldn't help but notice that Talon spoke of her in the past tense, all but confirming her suspicions.

"Marcus disbanded the Crimson Elite before he disappeared- we didn't know then why, but it had been in action long enough that Katarina and I were resolved of our military service. Riven returned to the army as soon as she could."

Another sigh.

"She died in Ionia."

Lux couldn't help but squirm, suddenly dreadfully uncomfortable; she wasn't self-centered enough to think that Riven's death was her fault, or that Talon would blame her for it, but she still felt vaguely guilty, like her involvement in aiding Ionia had somehow led to Riven's demise. It was worse because of how visibly upset the retelling of the memory made Talon; rarely was he ever so transparent, so it was clear that he had cared about Riven a great deal.

And to care about so few, and to lose most, was the worst of experiences, something Lux could somewhat attest to herself.

She wanted to say that she was sorry for his loss, but she didn't feel like she had the right, and she hesitated long enough that the moment for comfort passed and her opportunity disappeared. Somewhat at a loss for how to move beyond the moment of discomfort, Lux nodded at Talon's hand, the one still curled loosely around a knife.

"How do you move it like that without hurting yourself?"

The question was half distraction and half genuine curiosity; she knew it had mostly to do with simply being familiar with the object, like how she was able to twirl and catch her baton with ease, but the specifics of how Talon did it with a knife eluded her.

He didn't comment on her obvious attempt at changing the conversation, apparently grateful that she had done so, instead holding the knife between them so that she could better see what he was doing.

"Like this."

He slowed his movements as much as he could without dropping the knife, and Lux caught the way he moved the flat of the blade between his index finger and his middle, then rolled the hilt of the knife over the side of his hand, using his pinky in one deft motion to maneuver the blade back into its starting position. He demonstrated a few more times, until Lux reached out, stopping his movements and gently taking the knife from his hand, weighing it in both of her own.

The knife looked much bigger in her hands than his, and very out of place; she had a callous or two from holding her baton in the same spot, but in the wrong places to mistake them for familiar use of a knife, and there were no scars marking her fingers like Talon's. Even if she could convincingly lie about her experience with a blade, her skin could not.

She was proud of herself, however.

She wasn't comfortable holding the blade, not by far, but she let the smooth metal rest in her palms without shaking or feeling sick or suddenly feeling like she needed to run from the room. It was warm, not cold like all of the other times a blade had touched her skin, and outside of Talon's grip it looked a lot less dangerous.

But not for very long.

It was progress to Lux that she could hold the knife at all, but she handed it quickly back to Talon, who had watched her silently and without comment. The blade had reclaimed a lot of its former wickedness in his hand, but he kept his fingers still.

"You're scared."

Lux nodded, her eyes still fixed on the gleaming metal, and although she might have normally ignored the comment or attempted to change the conversation, she wasn't exactly being careful anymore about trying to hide that certain fear. It was a very sound fear, she thought; she wasn't the only one plagued by it, certainly.

"Because of the League match?"

Lux could see why Talon would think so, but he was off by a longshot; she remembered how desensitized she had been what seemed like forever ago now, when she was in the Du Couteau household and Talon had thrown a knife very much like the one he was holding now at her face.

She hadn't even flinched.

And then days later, his sadistic little joke had turned very real and very terrifying, and since then Lux's old fear had returned, and then worsened with her involvement in the League match.

"Not… exactly. But somewhat."

She wasn't intentionally being vague, and she knew that it bothered Talon to no end when she was, but he was asking questions she just wasn't yet ready to answer, if she ever would be at all. She didn't have to reach for her baton, being as it was laid against the length of her leg, and she moved her eyes the small distance from the knife to Talon's face.

And for the first time ever, Talon's soft stare was comforting, not unsettling like it had always been, and she now realized why his eyes looked so different when the cloak was absent.

Gold.

His eyes were gold, not dark like she had assumed, and the color was such an enticing hue, difficult for Lux to look away from now that she realized it was there.

But she did look away, as soon as she could force herself, grabbing her baton and standing in a quick flurry of nervous movement. The last few seconds had put Lux on edge all of a sudden, and she had the desire to be on her feet and in motion, needing something to distract her from Talon's eyes and imploring questions.

"I think I need to walk a bit."

It was an invitation, of sorts; if she wanted to be alone and cut off their meeting for the day, she would have just simply left, but the way she worded her intention to leave hinted to Talon that he was welcome to come. He hesitated as he climbed to his feet and pulled his cloak off the wall, suggesting to Lux that he thought he was misinterpreting her words, but she waited patiently for him to fix the clasp of the cloak beneath his neck and for him to return the knife to the table in the corner of the room and then meet her back at the door. He followed her out, pausing only to turn off the light behind them, and didn't ask if Lux had a destination in mind.

She didn't, really.

She headed vaguely in the direction of the Demacian wing, but with no hurry to her movements, and they walked slowly through the halls in a silence that verged on comfortable, almost. She felt somewhat obligated to explain to Talon why she seemingly cut off conversations for no obvious reason, and why she had such a deep-seated fear of the sharp and shiny, and it was that compulsion that ironically made her all the more hesitant to actually explain.

Because why should she feel obligated to him at all?

She didn't have a legitimate reason to be, but she couldn't shake the feeling, and she figured since she was telling Talon all this other stuff anyway, what more could this hurt?

"Some things are… difficult, for me to explain. And for some reason, you always seem to ask the questions I can't answer."

She shook her head, unable to pass up the moment to roll her eyes at him, her discomfort momentarily forgotten.

"You are amazingly irritating that way."

He laughed, louder than she was used to him being, and the sound was a more attractive version of his voice; deep, but smooth, and Lux found herself wishing it had lasted longer.

"You say that a lot."

She supposed she did; she shrugged like that wasn't her problem and grinned up at him, her previous mood all but forgotten now.

"It's true."

She had expected him to be smiling, or a trace of his laugh to be lingering in his eyes, but there was none; his gaze was serious, a lot more intense than the conversation demanded, and Lux quickly looked away.

"You also do that a lot."

Having learned her lesson the first time, she didn't look up at him, instead focusing on where she was walking, realizing they were a lot closer to her apartment than she thought.

"Do what a lot?"

If he meant rolling her eyes, then it really wasn't her fault; you couldn't spend any significant degree of time around Talon and not want to roll your eyes at everything he said.

"Refuse to make eye contact. Isn't that a sign of poor social skills?"

Lux huffed, pointedly keeping her gaze fixed forward, unsurprised that what he had to say was offensive; she'd never defended her 'poor social skills' before, because she knew that they were, in fact, poor, but she felt the need to when it was Talon that pointed it out.

"No. Maybe it's a sign that there's something wrong with you, not me."

Lux thought that certainly contributed to it; Talon never really just _looked_ at something, he stared or glared and things of that nature, and to someone who was used to not being seen, it was particularly disturbing.

"See, you're doing it now."

Lux knew she was being baited into looking up, which is exactly what she did; she stopped walking, firmly planting herself in one spot, and pointedly looked Talon in the eye.

Gold.

Before it was unsettling to match Talon's stare because of how singularly uncomfortable it was, but now she knew he had attractive eyes, and she didn't know which one was worse- to be enticed or unnerved.

"It's definitely you. Your eyes are very…"

She waved a hand, feeling like settling for the word 'uncomfortable' was selling the feeling short, and hoping the vague gesture would suffice.

It did not.

"They're very what?"

He was frowning now, hiding a bit more of the gold from her view, and she pursed her lips.

No, that was something she was definitely not explaining.

"Nothing."

She broke the strained eye contact, intending to once again begin walking down the hall, but Talon apparently wasn't having that; he quickly stuck an arm in her path, fast enough that she almost ran into it, and when she paused to glare, he moved forward, forcing her backwards in order to maintain the space between them.

Unfortunately for her, it was alarmingly quick before her back touched the wall, and she had no space left; it was clearly not an issue for Talon, who continued to lean forward long after he should have, personal space completely forgotten. He didn't stop until Lux could feel the metal decoration fixed to the front of his hood brush the top of her head, and his eyes were all she could possibly focus on.

"My eyes are what, Crownguard?"

His voice was a soft murmur compared to before, but Lux didn't notice; she was still completely baffled by how _very_ close Talon was standing to her, that she could feel the heat from his chest and smell the mint on his breath, as well as feel it brush over her lips. Her thoughts raced to catch up with how drastically the situation had changed in what could be no more than seconds, and it felt like her heart was trying to keep tempo with those thoughts.

Had he asked her a question? It was difficult to remember.

He seemed content to wait for her to remember, and she unconsciously adjusted her grip on her baton, causing his lips to twitch into a small smile. She couldn't help it then; she glanced downwards, quickly at his smile and then back at his eyes.

 _His eyes._

They were more consuming now than they ever had been to her before, but they reminded her of Talon's question.

"They're… unsettling."

It was embarrassing to her how breathless her voice was, but it was evidently a good enough answer; he leaned away, dropping his arm from the wall, but his smile after that was downright predatory, eliciting a vicious glare from Lux when her breathing and thoughts were a little more regulated.

"What the hell was that?"

He looked at her like he didn't know what she was talking about, all deceptive innocence, frowning and tilting his head to the side for good measure.

"What was what?"

She angrily waved her hand at him, but that was as much as she was going to be able to explain.

" _That!_ "

He shrugged, clearly not taking her anger very seriously, and stated simply like it made perfect sense.

"You weren't answering my question."

What, was he five?

"So you do that to everyone who doesn't answer whatever question you have?"

Her sarcasm was biting, but it only made Talon smile wider.

"No- only the people it bothers."

"Who _wouldn't_ be bothered by that?"

Lux would assume most people would have much worse reactions than she did, but he smiled in that way again, more like he was sizing her up to eat than laughing at her.

"You'd be surprised."

She could still feel a blush burning her cheeks so she didn't think her furious expression really carried any weight, and she stepped away from the wall on legs that were surprisingly shaky, stomping past him and down the hallway. She wasn't far from her apartment, and she doubted Talon would follow her the whole way there, so all she had to do was just walk a little more and she would be free of him.

But it seemed like until then, he was determined to make her as angry as possible.

He easily kept pace with her, and although she was sure to keep her eyes forward this time, she bet that if she looked over he would be smiling still.

"Are you mad?"

Mad enough that she had to stop herself from reaching over to slap him, but not mad enough to convince herself that it wasn't just simply anger she felt.

"Yes!"

But her voice sounded plenty angry, that was for sure.

Angry enough that Talon gently grabbed her elbow, loosely so that she could easily keep walking if she wanted to, but coercive in a way that she was quickly realizing only Talon could be. So Lux stopped walking, but tugged her elbow out of his grip, still not looking at his face.

"I'm sorry. You're easy to mess with."

She frowned at the floor, very unsatisfied with the answer, but not really surprised by it, either.

"That's a piss poor apology."

She might have considered herself fortunate to get an apology out of Talon at all a month ago, and amazed that he was actually capable of voicing one, but she held him to different standards now, she realized; if, a month ago, he did what he just did now, she doubted she would have restrained herself from slapping him.

But a month ago, she wouldn't have been confused about it.

There would not have been a single doubt in her mind that she definitely did not want Talon anywhere near her, especially not that close, but now…

It was disturbing the way her thoughts suddenly seemed cloudy.

"Because I'm not actually sorry about it."

She couldn't help but look up now, even though she knew the inevitable smirk on his face would just make her angrier, but she was surprised to find it wasn't there; there was still that hunger, only so much different now that it wasn't paired with a smile.

It made Lux question why she wanted him to be sorry.

When she gave it more than two seconds of brainless thought, the answer was clear: because he _had_ to be sorry. Because this was not allowed.

Because he was from Noxus and she was from Demacia and they both had to be sorry.

Because if it was something Lux wanted, then it was obviously not allowed, and if Talon agreed with her then it was probably also wrong.

And also because she said too much and thought too little around Talon, which meant that she had to up her caution around him, not throw it to the wind with complete and utter disregard.

Again, it was surprisingly difficult for her to think rationally when he was staring at her like that, especially now that he didn't seem to be joking at all.

About what, exactly, she wasn't sure; they both knew they weren't just discussing broached personal space and insincere apologies anymore, but neither of them seemed eager to clarify beyond that.

Lux could still feel the warmth on her elbow as if Talon had never moved his hand, and she could faintly taste mint, and her cheeks still burned. Whatever word encompassed all three of those sensations is what Talon wasn't apologizing for, and what Lux was very eager to avoid and deny that she wanted.

"I'm busy tomorrow."

They both obviously knew she wasn't, but if Lux waited any longer then she wouldn't be able to force herself to say the words, and she knew the best thing for her right now was to put some distance between herself and Talon, even if just for a day. She didn't wait for his answer, or even to see if his expression changed, just turned around and walked the rest of the way down the hallway so that she could turn on to the section of the wing where her apartment was located.

And the entire way she would feel gold eyes on her back and taste mint on her tongue.

* * *

As the last strand of gold hair disappeared around the corner of the hallway, amidst other, louder thoughts, Talon remembered what he had told himself a week ago.

Find out her secrets, and be done.

What he had just decided to do was really not in line with his 'be done' agenda, and he had failed so quickly and so miserably at it that he was actually shocked.

And he also did not care, not even the smallest bit.

He didn't care that he shouldn't have pushed her like that, and he didn't care that it was ultimately not a good idea; he could only really focus on the fact that his heart was racing and that when you stood that close to Lux, your face inches away from hers, everything about her seemed so much brighter- the blue of her eyes, the gold of her hair, both tied together by the faint scent of vanilla. That was something Talon wanted to experience again.

And he was an expert at getting the things he wanted.


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: This chapter is kinda on the short side, but the longer I spent editing it the more and more I was getting nervous about it, I guess? Like, afraid of how it'll be received. So I fixed it until I was happy, and I can only really hope now that it's good enough for you guys :x**_

 _ **Gnar- It's not my intention to. I could see how all the dialogue could get boring, but everything I write (to me, anyway) is important to the story and kind of ties together stuff that's going to happen in the future. Thank you! I look forward to all your new names :D**_

 _ **Guest- I love you guys too c: I noticed (at least, I assumed), and I thank you for all the reviews! Yes. More heat. I like that idea.**_

 _ **TheMIxKage- YAS. CAPS ARE GREAT. VERY MOTIVATING. But seriously, thank you c:**_

 _ **FlabberJiggles- Yes sir!**_

 _ **Tenchu11- Well, Talon actually IS a jerk, a little bit, but he really does like her. Just, not as much right now as he's going to, you know? Takes time to warm up to each other :]**_

 _ **Glaesii- Okay, first off- that was super flattering, and I feel so accomplished reading that *-* And also, I freaked out in a big way when I read your review, because I had NO IDEA that was you on tumblr! I remember seeing your Lux portrait and thinking "Wouldn't it be funny if she was talking about my fic?" and then you drew Talon (which was amazing and I am 1000% in love with) and I've just been sitting here fangirling ever since you reviewed, because I really love your art. I'm super glad and really amazed, tbh, that I inspired you in anyway, and thank you so much ;-;**_

 _ **Jiyu- Oh, just wait. It gets better for your heart.**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Thank you so much ^-^ More is on the way!**_

 _ **Sundavr- Well, I'm glad you noticed because that chapter is important! You are very welcome, and thank you ^-^**_

 _ **FlameCatcher- I'M DRAGGING YOU ALL DOWN WITH ME. This website is like… incredibly buggy, and for some reason the new image just keeps deleting itself or reverting back to the old one, which is SO frustrating. I think it's showing now, but I can't be sure if it'll stay that way ;-;**_

 _ **GarenKat Fangirl- I think you might see this chapter before I talk to you next, so THANK YOU FOR THE MYSTERY GIFTS. (I actually wanted happy elf teemo, please don't tell anyone). I was hoping you'd like it more! It's just funny to me (and fun to write) that Talon is like "Yes I am 100% doing this" and Lux is like "wat." (for now). He would probably react not so great, I imagine- he doesn't especially like being lied to, and he is really protective of Kat and Marcus. I was dyingggg to write about the Crimson Elite, and although my ideas for Riven are kinda vague at this point, it's safe to say she'll make a reappearance (in conversation, at the very least).**_

 _ **Thank you tons! ^-^**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- Oh he so does, and in a bad way. I have so many of those emotional nukes set up, you would be surprised. All in good time.**_

* * *

It took Lux a good five minutes after waking up the next morning to realize that refusing to see Talon was more of a punishment for herself than anything.

For more than the last week, she'd neglected to do anything other than spend her time with the Noxian, so now she didn't even have the option of Quinn or Garen as a distraction; she didn't even know where either of them were, actually, having checked their respective apartments and finding them empty.

So she was left to mope in her bed, alone with her thoughts.

She could probably find something to distract herself, but she wasn't in the mood to venture out, and she had plenty to think about in the comfort of her own apartment.

Like what in the world was going on.

It was as if, in the course of a minute or so, Talon had almost completely changed the dynamic of their… friendship; because when assassins and spies from warring countries usually spent their time together, it was at a distance, not close enough to-

Nothing. Close enough to _nothing._

Lux was really trying to focus on the ramifications of letting herself get any closer to Talon than she already was, but any rational thought she had was quickly interrupted by the memory of his hungry smile and the barest taste of mint, and the intensity of his eyes when they were too close for her to ignore.

It worried her, the way her stomach suddenly felt light, and she honestly couldn't remember ever feeling as confused about a person before. She attributed that to several different reasons; she'd obviously never tried to befriend a Noxian before (if that was even what you could call it), and outside of Quinn, had never even really forged a lasting relationship with someone. She had no familial ties, no childhood friends, no old flames- Lux was hesitant to even consider herself Talon's friend, much less anything else, because she simply didn't know how to tell if she was.

And she had the feeling that learning how to forge a relationship staring with Talon was maybe not her best idea- even if it was something she wanted.

She could tell herself whatever lie came to mind, she could reason with indisputable facts that Talon was dangerous and best avoided, but that meant little to her; she had wanted many things in her life, and was subsequently denied almost all, and she was so used to accepting what others wanted for her that she was surprised she was able to identify the desire at all.

It was why she had reacted so strongly yesterday; along with being taken by surprise, she was unnerved by her sudden desire to do what was so clearly the wrong thing. Even if she didn't think that Talon did what he did for any other reason except to upset her, she had obviously taken it the wrong way, and now that she admitted to herself she wanted it, it was impossible to change the pace of her thoughts.

Talon filled thoughts, about his eyes and his smile and how wonderfully warm she remembered yesterday being, even though there had still been a fair bit of distance between them. She could admit to herself that she wanted more, and she could admit to herself that Talon was no longer just a curiosity to her.

But could she admit it to him?

Encouraged by her confidence to admit the first two things to herself, Lux was inclined to think yes; she'd always had strong opinions she had no problem sharing before, whether people decided to listen to them or not, and it wasn't like she was embarrassed of doing so- it was more a fear that if she did and Talon didn't return the sentiment, like she thought was most likely, then there was a good chance that he wouldn't want to see her anymore. There were certainly other, less complicated distractions for him to busy himself with, which was not the case for Lux.

But if for whatever reason he _did_ share that interest, there was also the problem that Lux still had so much that she was hiding.

Not bad things, not things that would make Talon angry or upset, but things about herself that were dark and uncomfortable, the memories that Lux had done her best to bury and forget. Foremost among them were the scars she had successfully hidden from everyone in her life; if ever she moved with Talon beyond what they were now, they wouldn't stay hidden forever.

So, she had a decision to make; did she deny what she wanted one more time, and accept the safeness that allowed, or did she tell Talon with the knowledge that she would eventually have to come clean about her past?

For someone who had lived a life of secrets, it was an incredibly difficult decision; even now, the thought of actually having to recount the story that accompanied the scars, and a host of others that were less serious, filled her with a familiar, nervous-tinged sickness that made her want to curl up in her bed and sleep away the feeling. She had conditioned herself to shy away from the thought of ever having to dredge up those memories.

But it was kind of a dumb, idealistic thing to do- it was functionally impossible to just blot something so momentous from her life forever, especially if she ever wanted one day to become close to someone.

And Talon was that first someone since it had happened.

In her mind, Lux's decision was mostly made up; yes, she wanted Talon, and yes, she accepted the future discomfort that would come with it if he was of the same mind as her, but Lux's hands still shook as she ran them through her hair, and her next breath was still shaky.

Well, none of this mattered if Talon didn't feel the same way, right?

There was no point in worrying about getting close to him if that wasn't even something he wanted, and Lux drew comfort from the thought, somewhat, enough to even out her breaths and stop her shuddering hands.

But replacing that nervousness was another feeling, another she was definitely familiar with- anxiousness that there was something she didn't know and could easily find out, if she wanted to. It was almost painful for her to sit idly, only able to imagine what Talon was thinking and feeling, when she could just go ask him. A quick glance at her small bedside table and tiny alarm clock on top of it confirmed that it wasn't that late in the day- not even around the time for dinner. She knew where Talon's apartment was, and assuming he was there, she could just walk over and ask.

Just ask him how he felt.

Simple. Easy. Doable.

Lux repeated those three words over and over as she pulled a sweater over her head, grabbed her baton, and left her own apartment, heading in a direction that was almost completely foreign to her.

If she didn't think too much about the specifics of her intended visit, and repeated those same three words, Lux could almost trick herself into feeling confident; not even the fact that she probably wasn't allowed in the Noxian wing could deter her now.

Lux had never delved deep into the wing itself, and she wasn't sure if she would again; although it was intrinsically the same as the rest of the Institute, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, her skin crawling in a way similar to when Talon was glaring at her from underneath his hood.

It was weird, but she'd felt weirder, and she pressed on.

In a show of her usual luck, Talon's apartment was the one located deepest in the wing, and when she had to pass Katarina's room on the way there she even went as far as to toss her baton over her head and sneak passed it invisible, and although she was hoping it would, being hidden from sight didn't alleviate any of her earlier unease.

She didn't feel the need to keep up the illusion for long, dropping it when she was in the hallway that housed Talon's apartment, and she approached the door with a fresh nervousness that sat hand in hand with her determination, one that made her face feel hot even though the air conditioning of the Institute was usually quite overpowering, and her stomach feel almsot weightless.

Not entirely unpleasant, she realized.

There was a black metal 28 on the white door, and nothing else, and before she could lose her earlier nerve, Lux raised one sweater-swathed hand and rapped her knuckles on the door.

There was the hollow sound of the knock echoing in the room, and then silence, and Lux placed both hands on her baton behind her and rocked back on her heels.

It wasn't that late, she reminded herself.

And she reminded herself that again when a couple awkward seconds had passed, and once more before she considered leaving.

It wasn't that-

The inward swing of the door interrupted the repetitive thought, and Lux stopped rocking on her heels , opening her mouth as she prepared to launch into a very quick explanation of why she was there before Talon could question her.

But she quickly forgot all the words, her mouth still unattractively hanging open.

"Crownguard?"

Talon's voice was still heavy and slow, and it was obvious that he'd been sleeping; he leaned against the doorway, rubbing a hand over his eyes, blinking at her like he wasn't sure that Lux was actually standing in front of his apartment.

And Lux blinked at him like she wasn't actually sure that he'd answered the door shirtless.

She pinched the bridge of her nose before she could ogle his bare chest for too long, squeezing her eyes shut, and she cursed herself and the whole stupid trip over there.

 _God._

"Are you okay?"

He didn't sound concerned at all; actually, he sounded dreadfully amused, the smirk on his face evident in his voice without Lux having to even look. And even though she'd only gotten a brief glimpse of Talon before basically slapping herself in the face, she'd seen enough of very well-defined muscles to know that she oh so badly wanted to drop her hand.

Which she couldn't do, because she'd come here to talk, not to stare.

"I wanted to speak with you."

Her words sounded stinted, even to herself, and she was embarrassed enough by her inability to control her reaction that she dropped her hand, evenly meeting Talon's amused gaze with her stern one, carefully keeping her eyes there and nowhere else.

"In the hallway?"

He said it like that was the most ridiculous part of what was going on, and he definitely didn't look tired anymore; he crossed his arms over his chest in what Lux was sure was a deliberate and unnecessary movement, smiling the longer Lux stood there without moving her eyes.

"Inside, if that's alright."

If she was going to be caught by someone in the Noxian wing talking to Talon, she definitely didn't want it to be anything resembling the current situation. The corner of his mouth lifted into that snarky smile again, and coupled with the fact that Lux couldn't entirely ignore Talon's lack of clothing, she was suddenly very regretful that she hadn't just stayed in her own apartment.

Well, half regretful.

He stepped away from the door and waved her inside, and despite herself, Lux's eyes quickly flicked over every inch of his chest before he turned, and even though she allowed herself to admire every muscle on display (noting that the lack of a shirt made him appear much less lean than he usually did) she also cataloged one long, thick scar that ran jagged and diagonal from the top right of his chest to the bottom left, just above his hip, and a whole host of other scars ranging in size and severity that covered a lot of the rest of his skin, from abdomen to shoulders.

It, strangely, made her want to reach back to touch her own scars, an urge she barely felt before it was viciously fought down and repressed and then forgotten.

Talon flicked on lights as he walked into the apartment ahead of Lux, illuminating both the kitchen and living room before turning back to her, stretching his arms behind his head like he was trying to rid himself of the last bits of sleepy stiffness, his interlaced fingers cracking before he let his arms fall back to his sides.

"I'm not dressed for company."

Or like he was messing with her.

She resisted the urge to pinch her nose again, although she really wanted to hide her face because she could feel it growing hot again.

"I think you should fix that."

A wide grin in response, nothing more, but he did disappear into his bedroom, giving Lux a moment or two to compose herself.

Because she did need to, and badly.

She probably should have just left, but to think of doing so felt almost like admitting defeat; if she left now, Talon would assume it was because she was bothered by him being shirtless, and he was the type of person to hold that kind of thing over your head. If Lux saw him after today, she might not ever hear the end of it.

And she _was_ planning on seeing him again.

A little more confident she could probably make it through one conversation without painfully embarrassing herself, Lux made herself comfortable at the little detached island in the kitchen, grateful that each side of it only fit one chair and that at least she'd have a table of distance between her and Talon's smirk.

She laid her baton across her lap and folded her hands over it, not having to wait more than a few seconds before Talon came back, now thankfully wearing a dark, long-sleeved shirt like she was used to, taking the chair opposite her and once again crossing his arms over his chest.

"I thought you were busy today."

It was a pretense and he knew it, and Lux shrugged.

"I'm not anymore."

"I was asleep, Crownguard. This better be important."

It was the middle of the afternoon, which was a time that most normal people would be awake, but she supposed that Talon wasn't quite the norm _._ She kind of felt silly now, because what she had to say could have waited until tomorrow when she was 'not busy', but she was here and she was just going to get this over with.

"It's important to _me_."

Lux swore that he was moving closer while they talked, but she couldn't be sure, but she sat stiffer in her chair anyway.

"What is?"

Sitting here with him now, although under very different circumstances, it was just as difficult for her to ignore the gold of his eyes as yesterday, and now (even worse than yesterday) his hair was mussed in such a way from sleeping on it that she itched to reach over and fix it. Making sure that both hands were curled safely around her baton and that her back was in constant contact with the back of her chair, Lux drew a breath, thinking on how best to broach the subject.

Which was surprisingly difficult when her conversation partner had just answered the door without a shirt.

"I'm… confused about yesterday."

Incredible start to the conversation.

Talon tapped a finger against his arm, pursing his lips like he was actually annoyed that she had woken him up to, so far, say nothing of importance, or like he was trying not to laugh.

"It's important to you to be confused?"

Lux sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, frowning into her fingers with a growing sense of frustration; it seemed like today of all days he was determined to be more sarcastic than usual, which would make the uncomfortable premise of confession all the more painful.

"Can you not be an asshole for _five_ minutes? You're going to make this impossible."

She dropped her hands after the last word, glaring at Talon with an anger that was aimed mostly at herself, but that was effective in wiping away most of his previous expression; if anything, he looked genuinely annoyed now, like he regretted letting Lux inside at all.

Good- it was easier to do this when he was mad, and not laughing at her.

She took another steadying breath, and just blurted the words before she could change her mind.

"I like you. And not just 'I don't hate you anymore'; I mean I'm actually interested, despite how irritating you are."

Lux felt a lot like an incredibly confused and ineloquent teenager confessing to her first crush that she 'like liked' him, and she tacked the insult on at the end in a last-ditch attempt to alleviate some of her discomfort. Her face burned worse than before, and she had really failed at not embarrassing herself again. If it was any consolation, Talon didn't immediately react negatively; no change in expression or posture, and the only thing that moved were his eyes, continuously flicking over her face like they'd done a hundred times before. She shrunk beneath that stare, wishing he'd just say _something,_ wondering how bad it would be if she just left then and hid in her apartment for the rest of her life.

Talon shrugged after what could only have been a few seconds, even though it felt like hours, freeing his arms to place his elbows on the table and to intentionally, this time, lean across the table.

"Good. I am too."

It was probably the most casual way she'd ever heard someone confess that before, and she blinked a few times, repeating the words as many times as she could in her mind like if she just heard them enough, they would make sense.

He _what?_

She hadn't even let herself entertain the idea before; she was so sure that she was misinterpreting everything yesterday and that there was no way Talon was interested in her, but he'd confirmed it with all the nonchalance of commenting on the weather.

He looked completely unaffected, too, like he'd made up that decision forever ago and was just waiting for Lux to bring it up, but even though his face was fixed into neutrality, his eyes danced with an excitement she had never seen him express before. It was that excitement that kind of hit it home for Lux; Talon was interested in her too.

She didn't even let all the reasons why this wasn't a good thing bother her, or invade her thoughts at all; her mind was all gold eyes and half smiles, and even though she wanted terribly to smile herself, she just straightened in her chair and fixed her expression into one she'd used mostly when she first started speaking with Talon, one haughty and superior and falsely confident.

"Good."

Her voice didn't even shake, like she thought it might, and even though her stomach twisted with an excitement of its own, she kept her face free of anything besides that confidence, and what followed after that was the most weighted stare-off she'd had with Talon thus far.

But not uncomfortable, because for the first time since meeting him, Lux and Talon were on the same page.

On the same page, but it felt like neither of them really knew how to proceed beyond that; Lux was certainly at a loss for something to say, and Talon seemed content with the silence. Judging by the half-smile on his face, he knew that Lux's confident exterior was mostly a front, and he edged just a bit closer to her, successfully wiping the expression away some.

When Lux had thought about a relationship with Talon and whatever else that entailed, she seemed to have forgotten that it gave him more leeway to tease her now, and if she wasn't still so happy from before, she might have been worried.

"Did you need something else? I was going to go back to sleep, but if you want to stay…"

His voice trailed off suggestively, and Lux couldn't help yet another blush burning her face, a habit she annoyingly realized was something that happened almost exclusively around Talon. She doubted his offer was serious, although she couldn't completely discount the possibility, and it seemed like now that they were both openly admitting to being interested in each other, whatever filter he had before was completely gone.

Which was fine, because two could easily play at that game.

Talon had been leaning over the table on his elbows already, close enough to Lux's side of the table that it was really quite simple for her to arch her back just a little bit, quickly bringing her face next to Talon's, even closer than he'd been yesterday. She kept her face slightly to the side so that she ended up with her right cheek almost touching his left, and the warmth was enticing enough that she wanted badly to back up an inch or two, or maybe even accept his nebulous offer.

But that would defeat the purpose of what she was trying to accomplish.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

A vague whisper in his ear, and nothing more. Lux ducked away from Talon and stepped off her chair, making sure not to look back and successfully, she thought, keeping her walk steady and even as she let herself out of the apartment.

And once the door was shut behind her, Lux clutched her baton to her chest and leaned against the wall, her knees suddenly weak and in need of a rest. She smiled as she laid a hand over her racing heart, and her next breath was just as unsteady as her legs.

 _Wow._

* * *

Talon could feel the warmth against the side of his face even after Lux had been gone for several minutes.

He was still in his kitchen, staring at her vacated chair, still running the tips of his fingers over the side of his jaw as he replayed their conversation over and over in his mind.

He'd really only just decided (or admitted) that he wanted Lux, so he was still very much taken aback by how much things had progressed since then. He had been a little too groggy to come up with a reason for why she was at his apartment at first, and then too caught up in her expressions after to really formulate a theory, but he was sure that whatever he could have thought of wouldn't have been as good as the real reason she was there.

He never would have guessed that she was there to return his newfound interest, especially not after how poorly yesterday had gone.

He would have thought that pursuing her would be difficult and time-consuming, and even though he would have appreciated the challenge, there was no denying that it was endearing to watch Lux sputter through the confession, and he found a flustered, blushing Lux was much preferable to the sad or serious one he was accustomed to. He couldn't presume to completely alleviate her deep-rooted sadness, but he liked to see Lux smile, which so far hadn't proven difficult to accomplish.

All he had to do was answer the door without a shirt on.

He allowed himself a small smile when he remembered Lux's expression, and what he said yesterday held a fair bit of truth; she really _was_ easy to mess with, even by accident.

He wanted to see her again, feeling that the meeting in his apartment was a little too brief and her whispered goodbye was in desperate need of an answer, but he was being truthful when he said he planned on going back to sleep; he didn't mind it, but Lux had woken him up a lot earlier than he wanted, and with her gone a lot of his earlier exhaustion had returned.

And besides- the earlier he went to sleep, the earlier he could see her again.


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: Special thanks to Caroline and Oj for being wonderful aram buddies (and for always trading me Syndra and Zed) and for listening to me when I whine. Also to Tahimikamaxtli for giving me advice on anything and everything.**_

 _ **Quick side note- I really do love getting reviews, but I'm just going to say this- if you don't like this ship, if you don't like the way I write or the way I'm characterizing anyone, just… don't read the fic. It's getting really disheartening to keep getting reviews that basically only say "I don't like this" with no reason why or no constructive criticism for me to improve on. I spend a lot of my time writing, and to get a review that took maybe a quarter of the time that's just rude is a really big motivation killer.**_

 _ **That being said, thank you to people who give me real constructive criticism and the people, of course, that leave all the gushy reviews that make me smile c:**_

* * *

"Hey."

As a decently light sleeper, the not-so-quiet whisper mostly roused Talon from sleep, and it took him a second or two of groggy thought to realize that he was still in his apartment, which is somewhere no one else should be. That realization made the following jab to his ribs quite concerning, and he jerked awake, preparing to defend himself from an unseen attacker.

"Talon, get _up._ "

It helped ease his initial alarm to realize he recognized the voice, and he dropped the defensive stance to fall back to his bed with an exasperated sigh, rubbing the sore spot over his ribs (she _always_ hit the same spot). His eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of his room enough to ascertain that yes, Katarina was in his apartment, eyeing him like he was overreacting.

" _What_ are you doing?"

He was tired enough that his surprise was just surprise for now, not being angry quite yet that Katarina had invited herself into his apartment while he was sleeping.

A creepy first for her.

She was standing at the foot his of his bed, wringing her hands, and when Talon's vision was no longer blurred by weariness, he realized that her face was laced with concern.

"You weren't answering your door, and it was open…"

Talon ran his hands over his face, and the only reason he didn't get angrily violent was because of how scared Kat almost looked. He filed away a mental note to chastise a certain blonde for not locking the apartment door on her way out (which reminded him of where he was supposed to be right then) and tried to focus on the redheaded problem at hand.

"That's not an open invitation to come in, Kat."

She didn't even roll her eyes.

She slowly sat at the foot of his bed, still nervously wringing her hands, but she looked more embarrassed than anything now. She didn't meet his gaze (not that he could be entirely sure, since it was still relatively dark) and her hands moved to one of the knives at her belt, something that seemed to soothe some of her unease.

"Sorry, I know, but I haven't seen you in days and…"

She then ran her fingers through her hair, shifting the strands of scarlet, and she took a deep breath before explaining, talking too fast in her rush to speak her mind.

"Swain's still been asking to see me, usually not for very long, and the past day or two he's been asking about you, and it's getting a little weird Talon-"

Talon held up a hand, still a little groggy, stopping Katarina before she could go any further.

"Wait, wait. Start over."

It was all a little too strange to be told first thing when waking up, and Talon was not entirely passed the surprise of not waking up alone; it would take a moment or two before Katarina's ramblings would make sense.

She took another breath, but she looked a lot calmer now that she had made certain Talon was actually in his apartment and hadn't disappeared, and she exhaled her words with a clear relief.

"Swain still expects me to keep my spot in High Command, even if we're here. Things are getting worse in Noxus since the war ended."

Since coming to the Institute, Talon honestly hadn't given his country a whole lot of thought; he'd never been interested in politics before, and as far removed as he was from them now, they held virtually no importance to him. Which, he realized, was not the case for Katarina or Swain, apparently to the point where Katarina was starting to feel that it was within reason to sneak into sleeping people's apartments.

"What does that have to do with me?"

Because she'd mentioned that Swain was asking about him, specifically; that was why she was there.

Katarina shrugged.

"I don't know, exactly. But he's asked me a few times if you had any plans to return to Noxus, and I haven't seen you lately, so I was starting to think you actually might have."

Talon, very much awake now, was clearly staring to feel a bit of delayed annoyance; he wasn't sure how anything Kat had said warranted her reaction, because Swain mentioning him wasn't entirely concerning in and of itself, and he freed one of the pillows behind his head to lob at Kat. It didn't disappoint him too much when she easily ducked out of the way, but she didn't really seem to get that nothing she had said was concerning to him in any way.

"Would it matter if I did?"

He wasn't sure if he was still just too tired to understand where Kat's concern was coming from or if he was right and she was just overreacting. Kat shrugged a shoulder, but again Talon got the feeling that she was downplaying some serious unease.

"To him it does. There are a lot of people grabbing for power now that he's not there, and it's making him restless. He's never asked about you before, not since I suggested you as a champion, and it's making me nervous."

It seemed ridiculous to Talon that anyone would think he would want a position of power in Noxus, because titles meant nothing to him; you either had power, or you didn't. Aside from his general disdain of High Command, Talon didn't want to leave the Institute anyway, and had no plans to return to Noxus and subsequently anger Swain at all. So to him, being brought up in conversation once (even by someone like Swain) was kind of stupid to get worked up about.

"Your concern is touching."

His sarcasm suggested otherwise, and Kat shifted, ducking her head to hide her face even more.

"I only have one person to be concerned about."

She had a funny, invasive way of showing concern, but Talon wasn't especially eager to lecture her on her tactlessness at present. He half expected Kat to leave then, having gotten her answer, but she lingered for a moment or two in silence, and Talon shifted from laying down to halfway sitting up again, expecting something else Swain related and equally ridiculous.

"Where _have_ you been though?"

He doubted Kat would have believed him even if he told her that he'd been meeting with Lux, but he wasn't about to test that particular theory, instead returning to a more comfortable position with his back facing Kat and closing his eyes.

"I've been sleeping. Goodbye, Kat."

He wasn't even being subtle about wanting her to leave anymore, but Kat was especially good at ignoring hints (or direct dismissals) she didn't want to take.

"It's the middle of the day. I think you could probably do with a little less sleep."

"What?"

He rolled back over again, for the first time since waking up bothering to look at the time. The number on the face of his alarm clock confirmed what Kat had said; it was well past the afternoon, a very considerable amount of time after he should have met with Lux.

Kat noticed the change in his expression (which was a little too worried about the time for someone who was supposedly only 'sleeping') and for some reason finally took that as her cue to leave.

"Have fun sleeping."

She got off his bed and let herself out of the room just like she let herself in, and it took Talon a second or two after he was sure she was gone to move. He might have been able to go back to sleep if Kat didn't point out what time it was, but he had wanted to see Lux that morning, and he felt almost guilty for being as late as he was. He rushed through all the motions of getting dressed and ready, all the while debating whether or not it was a good idea to hunt Lux down (which if she was anything like him, wouldn't be difficult) or if he should just go back to sleep and apologize to her later.

It was a pretty easy question for him to answer, and Talon grabbed his cloak when he was finished getting dressed, making absolutely sure that the door was locked on his way out. He checked the hallway, but Katarina was nowhere to be seen, and he felt a lot more comfortable leaving now, fastening his cloak around his shoulders as he briskly made his way out of the Noxian wing.

Lux wouldn't still be in the training room (it was much too late for that) which meant that she was probably either in the library or her own apartment, unless she was with the other Crownguard or the ranger.

Now that he was giving it some thought, he felt a lot less confident that he knew Lux well enough to guess where she was.

But since he'd decided to find Lux anyway, the realization wasn't enough to deter him, and he figured he would just check her apartment first- she'd done the same thing yesterday, so it made sense to do it himself.

He felt a little strange walking to the Demacian wing even though both parts of the building looked identical, and he realized quite belatedly that he didn't know which apartment was Lux's. He knew which hallway was hers having walked up until that point before, but the hallway was home to a handful of rooms that weren't marked with anything other than the room number, and it was now that Talon hesitated.

It would be quite foolish to simply go door to door and expect to find Lux's apartment before anyone else's, and the last thing he wanted was to have to explain to Jarvan or Garen why he was in the Demacian wing and knocking on their door. Now that he was putting any thought into it at all, it was beyond hopeful on Talon's part to go there when he wasn't sure exactly were Lux lived, and he counted himself lucky to have avoided the Demacians he most certainly did not want to run into, and-

"Talon!"

* * *

Lux was sorely regretting her actions the previous day.

Because Talon would never be standing outside of her apartment (well not hers, exactly, but close) if she hadn't done the same thing first. Any other day, she might have actually been pleasantly surprised, but since he hadn't shown up to the training room that morning, Lux had spent the day with Garen and Jarvan instead.

Both of which, fortunately for her, had lagged behind her somewhat while they were walking, giving her (if she had to guess) another thirty seconds before they rounded the hallway and saw Talon waiting.

Lux darted to his side -not bothering with any other greeting- while sticking her baton under her arm and tugging his sleeve so that he followed her to the correct door; she fished her key out of her pocket, and faster than she ever would have thought was possible, unlocked the door and pushed Talon inside, checking to make sure the hallway was empty and no one had seen him before entering herself and closing the door.

Safely inside, Lux heaved a sigh and turned around, frowning at the amusement that danced across Talon's features.

"Hi."

She leveled her baton at him, not sure if she was succeeding at being threatening, and took a step closer so that it almost touched the front of his cloak.

"What are you doing? You almost got caught!"

Talon smiled a lot wider now, lifting a hand to gently push the baton back down with the tip of his finger and reaching up to tug his hood off. He looked completely unconcerned with Lux's worry, like getting caught either never crossed his mind or just simply didn't bother him.

"But I didn't."

He turned away from Lux and drifted a few steps into the apartment, running a hand through his hair as he eyed the room. It was in every way identical to his own, similarly devoid of any personal items, and he made himself comfortable in the chair that Lux had sat in the day before. Resigning herself to his company (which was unsurprisingly very easy) Lux joined him at the table and set her baton in her lap.

She expected him to say something, but he sat very quietly, the corner of his mouth still in that half smile.

"Is there any specific reason you're here?"

She knew it was because he'd missed their meeting that morning, but she was going to make him say it for no other purpose than to annoy him. Or attempt to, anyway; it was much easier said than done.

"Isn't it considered rude to stand someone up?"

He wasn't apologizing for it (which meant her question still wasn't technically answered), and honestly, she wouldn't care if he did; showing up to an empty training room after what she had confessed yesterday had put her in a rather sour mood, and she was upset not only with Talon for not showing up, but at herself for caring a lot more than she probably should.

"I wasn't aware that was something you cared about."

Either way he interpreted her sentence was fine; she believed both.

He pursed his lips as the ghost of actual guilt (or something that looked a lot like it) crossed his features, and he leaned across the table.

"I do sometimes."

She thought his tone implied differently, but the more he crossed the table the less she felt like dissecting his inflections. Reluctant to forgo her anger quite yet, Lux sat as far back in her chair as possible, narrowing her eyes at the smile that was once again crawling across Talon's face.

"Is that all you came to say?"

He was either unshakably confident or she wasn't doing a very good job of feigning her anger, because Talon's smile didn't falter.

"Do you want me to leave?"

She wanted to say yes to attempt to wipe away some of that smile, but she didn't actually want him to go; she was still very much angry with him, but begrudgingly, and she looked off to the side as she answered.

"I doubt you would even if I told you to."

It wasn't a very believable cover-up, but again, Lux was finding it hard to care.

Not quite ready to face him just yet, Lux walked into the connected living room to set her baton on the couch where it was within sight if not within reach, and then returned to the kitchen and began going through the motions of making coffee. She certainly owed Talon a cup or two by now, and if he was going to prolong his visit, it felt fitting to accent the time with caffeine.

Although she kept her back turned to him the entire time, it wasn't much better than facing him; she could feel his eyes on her every move, and when the coffee was actually ready it was almost a relief to turn around.

She carefully handed over the very hot cup (which still wasn't as warm as she thought her skin felt when her fingers brushed his) and was relieved of the weight of his stare when his attention shifted; she settled into her chair while he blew over the surface of his coffee, the tips of her fingers touching the handle of her own cup.

She should really probably be mad at him, not making coffee and prolonging his stay. She'd honestly thought that when the training room was empty that morning it was because she'd told him he was interested, and despite his earlier agreement, had changed his mind; she'd spent the morning with Garen and Jarvan, quite dejected, only for him to show up at her apartment seemingly on a whim.

Considering it was Talon, maybe she shouldn't have been that surprised.

He didn't look like he regretted what he said yesterday- he actually looked quite content to be sitting at her kitchen table, sipping coffee and twice tugging at the clasp of his cloak. He glanced towards the living room once where the baton was now sitting, fixing Lux with a curious stare that she'd become quite used to in the past week.

"Do you really take the wand everywhere?"

She pursed her lips at the word 'wand', just like she had the last time, and her frown from before resurfaced.

"I told you I do."

He cocked his head slightly to the side, wrapping his fingers all the way around his cup while his eyes dissected her expression.

"Do you think you'll need it?"

The question was phrased innocently, but implied a hundred different things; she shifted in her chair, uncomfortable at the implications, but didn't look away from Talon. She thought it was a little strange to make this the first topic of their conversation, but answered anyway.

"Didn't you say luck favors those who prepare? I keep strange company- I don't know if I'll need it or not."

It was the first time Lux had really revisited this particular train of thought since finding out Talon was a champion; no matter what he was like when they were meeting in the library or the training room, he had a life outside and before the League, one that had once scared Lux very deeply. He might be interested in her, but that didn't make him any less dangerous than she knew him to be in Noxus.

And Noxians did terrible things.

Gold eyes crawled over her features, and Lux didn't have to look down to know Talon would be tapping the side of his cup; he was thinking of his next words carefully.

"You won't."

Neither of them were interested in the coffee anymore; they leaned over the table, equally rigid and sharing equally intense gazes, and Lux tried to read into everything those two words could mean. She thought he was saying without actually saying that he wouldn't hurt her, but he had before, purposefully and not. Lux would like to forget both instances, but it was difficult considering Talon was the one bringing it up.

"I won't anymore, you mean."

His expression soured and he looked away, down to the table where his hands were now still. It wasn't exactly fair of her to hold the match over his head (or what happened in Noxus, since he didn't know that it was her) since she was the one who volunteered for it and it was League sanctioned, not of his own volition, but now that Talon had brought it to her attention Lux realized that this was a very large hurdle that stood in front of any sort of relationship they hoped to build; no matter what they said yesterday, no matter how much Lux liked Talon and he liked her, it would progress nowhere if they let this sit unaddressed- even if just acknowledging that it was there was all they were willing to do for now.

Talon spoke without looking up, his tone entirely devoid of any of his earlier lightheartedness.

"You're scared of knives, you're scared of Noxus…"

He looked up now, and the look in his eyes made Lux's stomach drop.

"This may not be the best idea."

This, meaning them; it may just be occurring to Talon that it might be a problem, but Lux had thought of this before she made the trip to Talon's apartment. She _was_ scared. She'd even been scared of Talon specifically, but now…

Things changed. She changed.

"It's a terrible idea, but I know what I want."

She wouldn't forget the match or what happened in Noxus, but she wasn't going to let it control what happened now. She couldn't let it overshadow the fact that Talon was much more than a mindless killer, and the person he was aside from that was someone Lux wanted very badly.

Or maybe she was very shallow and just valued an attractive face and a distraction; either way, it didn't change what she felt.

There was more quiet as Talon considered the words; every silence between them felt so weighted now, so heavy that she felt it was an unforgiveable offense even to breathe and break it. As usual when they discussed something of importance, Talon's mood shifted from serious to carefree in the span of a second or so, and he shrugged like they had been discussing how good the coffee was.

"It's up to you, Crownguard."

Again, the short reply left a lot to interpretation; the way he said it sounded like Talon was glad this is what she wanted, but that if at some point it no longer was that way, then she could end it.

She was content to worry about that when the time came, and to focus on what she was doing now.

Eager to forget the small conversation and the crawling feeling that came over her when she usually spoke about her fear of Noxus, Lux gave Talon a look of feigned annoyance, which ended up being more of a pout than anything.

"Is there something wrong with my name?"

She didn't really mind being called Crownguard by him anymore because at some point Talon had stopped using it with derision, but she had to wonder why good old 'Lux' wouldn't suffice.

He smiled, taking a sip of the cooling coffee before answering.

"That _is_ your name."

He ducked away from the slap that Lux aimed at his arm, his eyes once again light. Talon was one of those people with the infectious kinds of smiles; although a rarity to see him _really_ smile, it was hard not to smile when he did, and Lux fought against the inevitable upturning of her lips.

"You're sort of smart- I'm sure you'll figure it out someday."

A generous roll of his eyes, but otherwise no answer. They were both content to sit in the shared silence and finish the last of their coffee, shooting each other furtive glances over the rims of their cups when they thought the other wasn't looking. Lux liked these quiet moments left to observe Talon; he was very different here, even than in the training room. He didn't look uncomfortable at all in her apartment, and aside from looking a little tired, appeared considerably more… _normal_ than she was used to. It was a difference that she undoubtedly liked very much.

Lux took both of the cups when they were finished and placed them in the sink, and in the time it took her to do that Talon had seated himself in the armchair that sat next to the small loveseat in the miniscule living room. He undid the clasp of his cloak and laid it almost gently across the coffee table, careful to keep any of its considerable length from trailing on the floor.

Lux took her own seat on the couch where her baton was, curling her legs beneath her and laying her baton across her lap. She felt obligated to break the silence, like she usually did, but also like usual, Talon beat her to it.

"You look nice today."

The way he said it sounded a lot more like he was stating a fact rather than complimenting someone, but Lux's face reddened anyway, and she shifted her gaze to her hands. She _did_ actually put a little more effort into her appearance today; usually when she woke up early to see Talon, she dressed more for comfort and studiously avoided mirrors, but given the fact that she had time to get ready before going out with Garen before resulted in a much tidier appearance.

"I'm still mad- flattery won't change that."

She wasn't half as mad as she was before about Talon's no-show that morning, but it was a lot easier for her to talk about that than to be complimented.

"I overslept."

It was such a pathetic sounding excuse that Lux responded to it with, of course, an eye roll. She supposed it might not be an excuse, entirely; in Noxus, even just the week Lux had known Talon he had either slept way too much or not at all. Not exactly healthy sleeping habits.

Not that she was the pinnacle of correct sleeping patterns or anything, but still.

"Whatever you say."

There wasn't a much of a lull in the conversation this time, and it seemed that Talon was eager enough to fall back into their old routine.

"I've been wondering…"

Shocking.

"Wondering what?"

He slumped comfortably into his chair like he would any other day, but he still looked eager to speak.

"Quinn, the prince, your brother… how much do they know?"

Not an especially dark topic yet, for which Lux was grateful, but it took a moment of thought; all of those people were privy to the hidden part of her life in varying degrees, and now that she was thinking about it, it was a little difficult to remember exactly who knew what.

"Well they all know I'm a spy… I'd assume Jarvan knows what his father tells him, but I can't be sure how truthful the king is or what he shares with him. I don't think Garen knows my parents were… involved, with me joining."

He hadn't brought it up anytime they were together, and Lux would never broach the subject on her own, so she could only speculate.

"Quinn knows almost everything, I'd say."

Quinn had been there to comfort Lux through years of nightmares and deployments, as Lux had for her, which naturally meant the ranger knew her better than anyone. Talon considered it all with an even expression, propping his elbow on the armrest and laying his chin on his hand.

"Almost?"

A familiar shiver traveled down Lux's spine because there was really only one major thing she'd ever kept from Quinn before, but she gave Talon a half-smile that she hoped looked patronizing enough to pass.

"Well I can't tell her _everything._ It's classified."

Talon's gaze held hers for a weighted moment, suggesting that she wasn't successful, and Lux wondered what he would say if she just told him. He took everything so coolly that she doubted it would bother him at all.

That she considered it at all was definitely saying something.

"This is all classified, actually. I could probably get executed for treason if anyone knew about this."

It wasn't a joke; fraternizing with a Noxian would probably have irreparable repercussions all on its own, even without Lux disclosing Demacian intel. Although, maybe since they weren't technically at war anymore, being seen with a Noxian might not hold the same stigma as it used to.

Judging from the fact that Lux had no intention of ever letting anyone know, she didn't really believe that.

"Would Demacia _really_ execute their best spy?"

Behind the teasing tone was real curiosity, but Lux answered with a shrug.

"I think they would consider it now, since we officially don't need spies anymore. It wasn't like they were happy about employing spies before anyway."

It would probably be a relief to her higher-ups to have a reason to eradicate someone whose existence they would have otherwise denied, and to save themselves the trouble of someday maybe having to explain to everyone that they were no better than Noxus in some regards.

"I'm sure they were happy enough with what you accomplished."

Lux frowned, lowering her eyes and trailing her fingers over her baton.

"I wouldn't know. I only ever reported to one person, and he was never satisfied with anything."

Thinking of Maddick put Lux back into a bad mood, but it was easier now, she thought, than it might have been a month ago. She hadn't seen Maddick since she left for the Institute, and she felt like even the brief distance was doing wonders for her.

"Jarvan?"

Lux shook her head, looking up to meet Talon's dubious gaze.

"No, no- Jarvan didn't deal with my branch of the military. It was someone else."

"You don't like him." Talon murmured. Not a brilliant observation on his part, Lux thought.

"I don't really like anyone."

Sure, she hated Maddick more than anyone else she knew, but Lux only really liked a small handful of people.

Which Talon was now a part of.

"You talk about him differently. You sit straighter."

Lux quirked a brow, but she supposed she probably shouldn't have been surprised that he noticed; normally his stare felt very invasive, but he seemed more relaxed now, and his gold gaze looked very at ease. And he was right- Lux relaxed her stiff shoulders, settling more comfortably against the couch cushions now that she was aware.

"He's… not a very good person."

Lux's mouth twisted around the words but she didn't bother hiding her displeasure anymore, and Talon waited quietly while she found the words to continue.

"I was being taught at a college in Demacia when I was twelve, by a professor that was the only person that knew a significant amount about light magic. My superior replaced him after a while and he was just one of those people you immediately dislike; there was a hidden meaning behind every slick word of his, and his smile..."

Lux shuddered.

She remembered how sad she was that she was no longer meeting with her old professor and how terribly awful his replacement was, and how the days leading up to her birthday were dark and ominous- for good reason.

"There aren't a lot of ways to force a twelve-year-old into the military without anyone knowing, but he wasn't above kidnap. That should give you a pretty accurate picture of the kind of person he is and the people that worked for him."

And that should thoroughly explain why Lux detested him so; the night she was abducted from her parent's house was without a doubt one of her most terrifying memories, and the fact that she had been forced to see Maddick almost every day after that for the rest of her career had been like a continuous slap in the face. Lux's fingers curled around her baton with a familiar anger, but she made a conscious effort to keep the rest of her body relaxed.

Talon moved the hand under his chin to rub his jaw (another habitual movement of his, although Lux didn't think it was out of nervousness) staring at Lux like he was, once again, seeing her as a different person.

"It gets harder for me to understand why you stayed the more you tell me."

Lux shrugged.

"I've thought about it a lot since you asked me, actually. I really did think that I would be doing more good if I stayed, and I knew that no matter where I went, I would have to spend the whole time hiding. It would be safer than remaining a spy, but I would be alone and invisible still, and I doubt I would be much happier."

Being with Quinn and the thought of someday being able to see Garen had helped Lux through many a dark day, and if she had run from Demacia and forced herself into hiding, then she wouldn't see Garen for sure, and she wouldn't even have Quinn anymore. It never really seemed like a better alternative to her.

As usual when given something new about her to consider, Talon thought through her words in an observational silence, his eyes picking through every facet of the expression on her face.

"Are you happy now?"

And like every other time, his following question was not what she expected; Lux's brow creased, but she didn't really have to think her answer through.

"More than I have been."

It wasn't a yes, exactly, because Lux was still bitter of the things she'd lost and because deep down she knew that the League wasn't offering her the sense of purpose she craved after the war ended, but she didn't feel as alone as she had in Demacia. She had Garen here, and Quinn, and she had Talon, although to what end she wasn't exactly sure.

She guessed that was why he was here and why they had been meeting, and why she had gone to his apartment yesterday; to figure out what exactly it was they wanted from each other, because it wasn't just information anymore.

Although that was certainly an added benefit.

Lux's frown eased a bit and the corner of her mouth twitched into a smile, and she took the opportunity to once again turn the conversation to lighter topics.

"I guess that's why I can stand your sarcasm for so long."

Talon's face likewise eased into a smile, the lopsided one she liked the most, and he shifted his hand comfortably under his chin again.

" _That's_ why?"

Lux rolled her eyes at the insinuation (because she was absolutely certain that he was referencing his less than decent appearance yesterday, and her less than composed reaction) and even though the silence that followed the quip wasn't exactly uncomfortable, Lux was used to filling the time she spent with Talon with lots of conversation.

"Enough about me, though. I want to know more about the Crimson Elite."

She'd actually been waiting to ask him about it and she leaned forward a bit, considerably more excited now, because this was something that Lux knew virtually nothing about; to have an inside vein to that type of secret naturally made the inquisitive Lux practically squirming at the thought of the information that Talon possessed.

But as excited as she was, was as dark as Talon became; he looked off to the side, his earlier smile easily morphing into a dark frown.

"I preferred talking about you."

Lux noted the change with more than a little confusion, but attributed the anger on his brow to the fact that half of the Crimson Elite was either missing or deceased. She might not have inquired further if it was anyone else sitting in front of her, but Talon sighed before she could pursue the subject herself, still not meeting her eyes.

"What did you want to know?"

It was harder than usual for Lux to ignore his anger, and her question was halting.

"How did you keep it a secret? I was in Noxus before Marcus disappeared, and I've never even heard whispers of the Crimson Elite returning."

It wasn't what Lux was put in Noxus to look for, but she always had an ear to the ground; the fact that she had spent eleven years in Noxus and not once heard of a secret group of assassins composed of one of the most notorious families in the country irritated her something fierce.

Talon looked almost relieved at that particular line of questioning, finally shifting his gaze back to hers, although it was still stormier than before.

"We were careful. It's easy to keep something a secret if you know that it would get you killed otherwise."

That didn't really explain anything, but Lux really didn't like the frown on Talon's face anymore, and she tried to make her tone a little bit more conversational.

"I just can't imagine Katarina utilizing any form of subtlety. And Riven, with that sword."

Lux only vaguely remembered seeing Riven in High Command once many, many years ago, but the sword she had lugged around with seemingly no effort on her part practically dwarfed herself. The fact that she had been a crucial part of the Crimson Elite with her weapon of choice and had remained undetected was more a slight on the intelligence of Noxus itself than a commendation on her part.

Lux's attempt at lightening the mood had an immediate and opposite effect; Talon's lips pressed into a thin line, and she was reminded of the mood he was in the first time he told her about the Crimson Elite; she had thought before that it was because Marcus had created and absolved it and the General was still a sore subject for him, but it wasn't the missing Du Couteau that Lux mentioned, and she doubted that Katarina would evoke such darkness from him either.

And then something occurred to her, and her voice was slow and careful as she voiced her realization.

"Riven was… _very_ important to you, I take it."

He didn't react to anyone like he did when Lux mentioned Riven. Not Katarina, not Cassiopeia, not Marcus. It didn't look like he was going to answer (she halfway expected him to leave right then), and Lux shifted uncomfortably, almost feeling guilty for having unearthed something that was apparently very personal.

"Does it matter? She's dead."

Flat, uncaring. Talon was trying very hard to make it seem like Riven didn't matter anymore, which was clearly not true, and Lux wasn't content to leave it at that.

"Most people you ask would say that Marcus is dead, yet he still matters to you."

His look, for a moment, was a heated glare, but it ebbed away some and he quickly looked away, down at the tight fist his hand was still curled into.

"You're not usually this irritating, Crownguard."

Although she still felt on edge from the tension only seconds ago, she felt somewhat guilty for upsetting Talon simply for the sake of her own curiosity, and she was pleased with the information she had gleaned, even if she was simultaneously presented with twice as many unknowns.

 _Riven._ A subject for another day, perhaps.

"I think I might be- you just don't notice."

He looked up slowly, a bit wary of the tentative smile on Lux's face.

"And why is that?"

She grinned now, confidently chirping her response.

"Because you like me."

It felt so strange to say, but Lux found that she liked it, and liked even more so the slight smile of Talon's that followed.

"Begrudgingly."

And briefly Lux felt a very intense desire to be nearer to Talon and that even the short distance from her seat to Talon's chair was impossibly far, but the feeling only lasted a moment before she returned to her much more reasonable self.

After that, both of them strayed away from topics the likes of the Crimson Elite or Maddick; Lux tried to explain the bizarreness that was being invisible to Talon who had experienced it briefly during the League match (how absolutely silent you had to be, which was something he had plenty of experience with, and how nerve-wracking it was to sneak around somewhere like High Command without accidently running into someone or something while still getting to where you needed to be). The conversation switched over to Talon when he tried to convince Lux to show him how the invisibility worked -which she vehemently refused to do- and it was an hour or two of easy conversation later when the latest League match came up (which both of their siblings had been selected for, and quite paramount in) and Talon's face pinched into a slight frown.

Lux had been innocently comparing the pair's fighting styles (or so she thought) and she looked at Talon, a bit worried that she had accidentally said something wrong, like before.

"What's with the face?"

He tried to relax the sour look, but Lux could tell that he was genuinely annoyed.

"They're going to be a problem."

Lux was a little lost now.

"Garen and Katarina? Why?"

Talon looked at her like she was missing something important and obvious, and when she realized what he was hinting at, she frowned.

"First off, you're being a hypocrite."

Lux hadn't given much thought to Garen and Katarina _together_ , but from the look on Talon's face, he had; she remembered back in Noxus how he'd teased Katarina about Garen, and it made a lot more sense now than it did then, but considering who he was currently talking to it seemed a little funny that he brought it up at all.

"And I don't understand why that would be a problem."

Weird, maybe, certainly ill-advised (like her own choice of interest), but Lux didn't think she understood what Talon's concern was.

"You said it yourself; subtlety isn't Katarina's strong suit, and I have a feeling it isn't Garen's either. It could be dangerous for them if people knew."

It had crossed Lux's mind before, but in reference to herself, not Garen; if people knew that she and Talon were anything more than bitter enemies, and likewise Garen and Katarina, 'angry' wouldn't really begin to cover the reaction.

It just didn't seem concerning to her when she wasn't in Demacia, and since Lux kind of had a feeling that Talon wasn't only talking about Garen and Katarina being a problem, she shrugged like it didn't matter to her.

And it didn't, really.

"They're old enough to decide for themselves, don't you think?"

The look they shared after that felt like a challenge, and Lux sat very straight and stiff, daring Talon to disagree.

"I suppose."

Lux was satisfied with the small win, but she felt that her time meeting with Talon had come to a close; they'd been talking in her apartment for hours, much longer than they usually met in the training room for, and if her own hunger was anything to go by then they both very much needed to get something to eat.

Lux stood (a movement that Talon mirrored), straightening her stiff legs and stretching her arms out behind her, leaving her baton on the couch and waiting for Talon to finish fixing his cloak into the right position over his shoulders. When he was satisfied, Lux gave him a small smile, regretful that so much time had passed already.

"It's getting late."

He only nodded in reply, turning around to head towards the door without saying anything. Lux trailed behind him, mostly caught up in the way the back of his cloak moved around his shoulders and not so much his silence; it was more than likely that he was just tired, and was probably eager to be on his way and off to eat and sleep after the hours he'd spent with her.

He let himself out of the apartment and Lux turned around, backing out herself as she slowly and quietly shut the door, then turned back around to face him.

And finding that he was much, much closer than she anticipated.

Being as Talon had a significant amount of height on her and Lux's chin barely cleared mid-shoulder for him, she had to tilt her head back in order to see his face, a feat slightly more difficult now that she was strategically trapped between him and the now-closed door.

The smile on his face suggested this was not exactly coincidence.

It wasn't like the day before yesterday when they had been in a similar position and Lux was too surprised and undecided to be anything but angry, but it was identical in the fact that the hand he leaned against the doorway brushed her arm and when he leaned over, she could focus on nothing but the bright gold of his eyes and the curve of his lips.

"Tomorrow, then…"

And when he slowly dipped closer this time there was really no indecision in Lux's mind, and she leaned forward on her toes, lips parted, eyes just drifting closed…

"Lux!"

And just like that, it was all gone- the warmth, the closeness, everything.

Talon leaned away in a movement so fast that Lux was almost confused at the distance that was now between them when she opened her eyes, and her gaze flicked from Talon's face (turned away now, towards the end of the hall) to the source of the voice, a voice she most definitely didn't expect to hear inside the Institute. She tried to fix a smile on her face and still the rapid beating of her heart and uneven breathing, while also trying to come up with an explanation as to why in the world she was in the position she just was, and she weakly waved a hand the familiar face down the hall.

"Ezreal!"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Personal question- does anyone actually know why Ezreal hates Noxians so much? I've read the JoJ, lolwiki, and I can't figure it out.**_

 _ **RamboHawk- Our ship, it sails! I always get a ton of satisfaction when people tell them I'm turning them onto a ship, so thanks!**_

 _ **Sosorry83- Thank you, I will! :D**_

 _ **TheMixKage- Thanks! That's always interesting to write, also.**_

 _ **Stallord- I'm the exact same way lol. Sarcastic to a fault. Thanks! C:**_

 _ **GarenKat Fangirl- I usually try to just get it out and edit it after it's published so that I'm not just sitting around it editing it to death, but I oops'd. Yay!**_

 _ **Honestly I just want to get to the FLUFF ALREADY but I'm a sucker for slow romances… so now all of you are too ;] Thank you! It's pretty weird to think of how both Talon and Lux change when they become part of the League and how they change around each other, but it's been a lot of fun to write and an interesting challenge for sure. Thank you again c:**_

 _ **(That teemo skin is adorable and I love it.)**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Mmmm I'm right there with you on that one. Thank you!**_

 _ **Guest- Hopefully you're sleeping better now :o I'm going for sudden in this fic haha. "Sudden" is going to happen a lot. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it ^-^**_

 _ **Lux Du Couteau- I like your name c: Ugh, don't we all. Thanks! There will be tons of drama, but not that kind of drama.**_

 _ **Dalarrin Hexplos- Thanks! That's just the way I like to write, and it's usually because I want you to be focusing on what the people are thinking and feeling, not saying. If you're skipping it, then you're missing an important part of what I'm trying to convey :p**_

 _ **LeagueOfDraven- Thank you so much! Writing Lux's past has so far been the most enjoyable part of this fic. I look forward to hearing from Draaaaaaaaaaaaven again c:**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- Oh, no. Defintely fluff for now, nukes for later. All in good time ;]**_

 _ **Oceanbourne- I've been reading your Jax/Irelia fics and weirdness granted, your writing is incredible and I've been enjoying it a ton.**_

 _ **I think I stressed the awkward interactions because of a few reasons; it was awkward for Lux that she knew Talon previously (and on bad terms) and he didn't, because of the very ingrained "this is a Noxian I shouldn't be talking to him outside of me working", and because I've always thought that when you're attracted to someone you don't think you should be, you feel very awkward.**_

 _ **I'd like to mention that it's really hard to get a complete picture of my headcanons for Talon, because a lot of thought goes into writing a person (you would know, since I'd assume it's difficult writing Jax when there's basically nothing out there lore-wise for him) and it's impossible for me to write them all out, especially in responses to reviews. So, I have a million and one ideas on how Talon should think and feel and yaddah yaddah. My writing and responses really don't begin to cover it.**_

 _ **He's not as stiff and stoic anymore simply because he doesn't want to be. He's identified something he wants, and to get it, he has to act different; since he has no problem acting differently around Lux, it's not a huge deal. And I think that people act considerably different around people they're attracted to/their significant others. He's still himself (sarcastic, still short sometimes, not entirely comfortable opening up) but he likes Lux and he's been meeting with her for over a week now, so it's easier to be comfortable. I think that Talon behaves according to circumstance, too, if that makes sense. Like in Noxus he had to be emotionless and very quiet and "professional", but he doesn't have to be like that in the Institute when he's only with Lux. I've really tried to show (whether or not I'm succeeding, I don't know) that Talon is someone who does what he has to, acts the way he has to, until he can do what he wants, and he does whatever he can to get the things he wants.**_

 _ **Talon IS pretty concise- when he's talking to Kat, a lot of the time when he's talking to Lux, but you can't really be short when you're explaining things (which is what's been happening in the past few chapters), especially not complicated things like his experience with Marcus, relationships, etc etc. and I think we differ in thought here, because while Talon is a concise person in action and words, I don't think his internal monologue would reflect that. Most quiet people see and hear a lot, and think a lot (I might just be referring to myself a little bit too much here). I would think that someone who notices as much as he does and has to consider what he's doing, how to do it, and the short term consequences in probably a small amount of time thinks a lot. He's also a smart person, so to me, it makes sense that he thinks a lot and says very little. I think Lux is almsot the same way, thinking a lot, but having no problem speaking a lot too.**_

 _ **But as I've said before, Talon is just kind of one of those characters that everyone has very different ideas of how he acts and what he says and everything because his in-game persona is virtually nonexistent. These are my thoughts on how he should be, and I hope it at least makes sense :p**_

 _ **Okay this was SUPER long -winded, I apologize, but I hope I answered your questions. Also, thank you for your review and your compliments (a lot of my attention went into Lux's past, so I'm glad someone likes it) and no worries- this didn't really come off as pessimistic. I'm not sure if you'll really like the fic after this (romance, ahoy) but I really did appreciate your review. It definitely gave me a lot to think about and a chance to flesh out Talon's personality some more.**_

 _ **AHHHH- I'M TRYING I'M TRYING. JUST TAKE THE CLIFFHANGER AND BE HAPPY.**_

 _ **Nic- Awww, I'm glad you liked it c: more sweetness is on the way for sure my friend.**_

 _ **Tasskuss24- thanks so much! I can't answer your first question, because I don't want to ruin anything c: technically Talon has made the first physical move and Lux the first verbal, but as for the first REAL move… you'll see. I think that depends; I like writing Talon more usually, but it was a loooot of fun to write Lux's past. But if I had to pick… probably Talon. Thanks again!**_

 _ **Jiyu- update is here! Sorry about your feels ;-;**_

 _ **As always, thanks to everyone for reviewing!**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N: We can all just blame GarenKat Fangirl for this, who approved this chapter and made me cry over a watch.**_

 _ **Okay.**_

* * *

Ezreal.

Lux's old friend stood at the end of the hallway to Lux's apartment, blonde hair wild as ever, signature gauntlet fixed to his hand. He might have been smiling, initially, but his look had frozen over with surprise, and the longer the three of them stood there the less and less friendly it got. Lux's hand was still raised weakly in greeting, but she doubted he even noticed; he was very obviously staring at where Talon was standing by her side, and who didn't stay there for long. As if the brief seconds of tension were too much to stand any longer (and they certainly were, even for Lux) he strode quickly away, and before either Lux or Ezreal had time to do or say anything, Talon was walking past him and disappeared quickly around the end of the hall.

And after Ezreal was no longer shrinking to one side of the hallway to avoid even coming anywhere near to the edge of Talon's dark cloak, his wide eyes returned to Lux.

Fixing a fresh smile over the marred one that was sure to be on her face, Lux walked to the end of the hall, trying to keep her voice light and doing her best to pretend that a Noxian didn't just walk out of her apartment, and that there was certainly nothing going on _outside_ of the apartment, either.

"What are you doing here?"

Ezreal blinked a few times, the blue of his eyes winking in and out, and he sounded a lot like he hadn't quite caught up to where the conversation was now; the silence he provided gave Lux plenty of time to wish desperately that Ezreal had interrupted things just _one_ minute later.

"Piltover joined the League- Cait, Vi and Jayce are here too somewhere, and…"

He shook his head halfway through the thought, clapping a hand to his forehead.

"But what are you doing! Who was that?"

Lux's smile dropped, and she considered lying, but if Ezreal was a champion then there would really be no point- besides, everything about Talon screamed Noxian, and loudly. It wasn't a lie he would buy, not for a second.

"Talon."

His name stuck in her mouth like it was a bad word that she'd been forbidden to say, and the realization that dawned on Ezreal's face once again made Lux feel like her stomach disappeared, although she wasn't sure if the feeling could only be attributed to being caught.

"Du Couteau?"

Lux could really only manage a nod this time, and when the shock finally started to fade from Ezreal's expression, anger burned in those blue eyes, something that cut somewhat through a haze of frustrated, Talon-filled thoughts.

"He's a _Noxian_. Why was he in your apartment?"

Lux lifted her chin, well aware that she'd been caught and trying to quickly come up with a way out of it.

"I know where he's from. I was getting information."

Getting _something._ It wasn't even a lie, technically, but Ezreal wasn't buying it.

"What, was he whispering it in your ear? Don't lie to me, Lux."

Lux bristled at his tone, and the bite in her voice was very much real.

"I didn't ask for your opinion. Nobody has had a problem letting me figure out how to do my job on my own before, and you're in no place to accuse me of anything."

He actually was, more than anyone else, but Lux was finding that a lot of what she was saying wasn't untruthful; she _was_ getting information from Talon, albeit with ulterior motives, and no one would have had a problem with her flirting answers out of people if she was in Noxus as long as it resulted in something profitable for Demacia.

It seemed that her anger had overshadowed Ezreal's, but he narrowed his eyes, not quite finished.

"The war is over. You're not a spy anymore. There's no reason you should be anywhere _near_ that murderer."

Lux could think of a few that would _really_ upset Ezreal, but he had actually offended her, and she wasn't even thinking of Talon anymore when she snapped back.

"It's not for you to decide what I am. Everyone's made damn sure that I was made into the perfect spy for what _they_ needed, and you can't take that away from me now."

Ezreal's anger seemed to wither beneath Lux's fury, and it was clear that he was second-guessing his earlier assessment; she almost felt guilty (because he wasn't wrong) but he overstepped himself, and with such a sore spot for Lux. His mouth screwed up into something sort of like a scowl, but it was almost apologetic.

"What are you even going to do with the information if Demacia can't use it for anything?"

Lux still felt physically stiff from the argument, but her heart wasn't pounding anymore, and she took a deep breath to settle herself.

"I don't know, but that's not really for me to decide anyway."

If this was any other deployment, Lux would be tasked with retrieving the information and not much else. It usually fell to Maddick and whoever else was above him to decide where to go from there.

He still looked wary, certainly suspicious, but for now it looked like Ezreal was content to accept what she told him; if anything, he was scared of insulting her again, and suffering the resulting anger.

"Well, that's actually part of why I came to see you."

He shrugged, almost managing to look sheepish, and offered her a timid smile; she noted these things but was once again distracted, craving company that was a little more… exciting.

"And to say hi, of course."

Lux was certainly eager to end her fight with Ezreal because she was happy to see her friend and absolutely did not want to talk about Talon at all with him, and she couldn't deny that she was curious.

"What do you mean?"

He looked excited now, all anger forgotten, gesturing to Lux with both hands like that was all he needed to answer her question.

"Your last deployment! I figured out where the glyph was from."

It definitely took Lux a second to remember what he was talking about, and the paper she had lifted from the Du Couteau mansion when she was there for Cassiopeia; Ezreal definitely had her interest now.

But then Ezreal frowned, thinking out loud.

"I was supposed to get all four of you, actually, but Garen isn't in his apartment and Quinn is busy. I haven't even been to see Jarvan yet."

Lux mirrored the frown, trying to fully focus her attention on Ezreal for now and not where she'd rather be.

"Why does that have anything to do with Garen and Jarvan? They weren't part of the mission."

Garen never even came close to anything Lux had to do in Noxus, and Jarvan almost never did either. Why would they suddenly be assigned to a failed mission that had only lasted a little more than a week, and had almost nothing to show for it?

"I don't know. I think Maddick just wants you all on the same page- I wasn't really in Demacia long enough to ask him myself."

Ezreal was always drifting in and out of Demacia and Piltover lending aid to Maddick (and others, like Jarvan) and Caitlyn respectively when he could, but he was flighty by nature and didn't have a gift for speaking with people of authority. It made sense to Lux that he would leave Demacia the minute he could, and not a moment after, even if it meant not properly questioning the things he was asked to do.

But even if it made sense, Lux didn't like being confused.

"Should we wait for the morning, then? It doesn't sound important enough to wake everyone else up for right now, and I'm tired."

Now _that_ was a lie; fresh excitement crawled through Lux's limbs now, and she was hoping that Ezreal would resort to his restless self and postpone the sure to be boring meeting for another day, and that he would leave. It wasn't the nicest thing to wish of your friend, but she had plenty of time to see him later and right now she could hardly even concentrate, certainly not enough to feign normalcy if he chose to gather everyone anyway.

"Well, since you suggested it, there _was_ something I wanted to see…"

He did a good job of making it look like he was seriously considering Lux's offer of sorts, but she knew he wasn't excited to play messenger boy for two missing and two tired Demacians, and there were certainly more than a few things in the Institute that he thought warranted his attention.

He gave Lux that sheepish grin of his, all anger forgotten, and nudged her with his elbow before starting to edge away.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? Make sure Garen is there."

"Sure thing!"

Lux got in a smile and a wave before Ezreal completely turned around and disappeared around the bend in the hall that Talon had, and when she was sure he was gone and not about to return, she walked a little too fast down the hallway herself, quickly checking both ways before practically sneaking down the route to the Noxian wing. Considering Talon had a head start and was tired even before he left, there was a decent chance Lux wasn't going to make it to his apartment before he was asleep.

But that wasn't going to stop her from trying.

The 'almost something' aside, Lux got the very distinct feeling that Talon disliked Ezreal and had left angry, and the last thing she wanted was for him to sleep on that anger; doing that kind of thing usually did not bode well for the morning.

She was grateful, as she usually was, that the Institute was naturally such an empty place and allowed her to make her way from the Demacian wing to the Noxian without seeing another person, because she was probably walking there a little too fast and with a little too much excitement (or something like it) on her face. It even took her almost the entire way there to realize that she'd left her baton in her apartment, but she convinced herself that she realistically wasn't going to need it (Talon did specifically say she wouldn't) and that maybe if she didn't bring it with her he would stop asking about it.

That and she didn't want to waste the time to turn around when she was already where she needed to be.

And now that she was at his door, raising a hand to hover just beneath the 28, her hands didn't feel so empty. She hardly even hesitated before knocking, the sound light but clear. It took him probably a quarter of the time to answer the door than it did the day before, but Lux could've sworn it was longer, and the inward swing of the door was met with a certain feeling of relief.

She was right about him being unhappy; there was a definite frown to Talon's face that abated some when he saw that it was Lux outside the door and not someone else, and he hadn't taken his cloak off yet which made Lux think that maybe her showing up was not exactly a surprise. Her hands felt empty again and she clasped them behind her back, finding it more difficult than usual to evenly meet Talon's eye and offering a weak smile.

"Hi."

She expected him to be a little… happier to see her, maybe, but other than that she realized she really hadn't thought too much into what else she expected to happen.

"Walk with me?"

She wasn't about to invite herself into his apartment and she still wasn't sure if Talon was mad or not, and that seemed like the best next option. Besides, it was a relatively safe activity given how late it was. He didn't verbally answer, but he stepped outside and pulled his hood up, taking a spot next to Lux and allowing her to lead them slowly in a direction away from the apartment and out of the wing.

Lux stole a glance or two towards Talon as they walked, his silence more unnerving now than she ever remembered it being, and felt that she very much needed to fill the quiet.

"That was Ezreal. He has this… thing with Noxians."

Half the continent shared the sentiment, but Lux didn't think it was prudent to point that out.

"I know who he is."

Glad as she was that he was no longer refraining from speaking, Lux looked at Talon with a bit of interest, although his shadow-shrouded expression didn't give her much to go on.

"You do?"

It should probably be less surprising than it was because Ezreal had amassed quite the reputation through his travels and exploits, but for some reason she just expected Talon not to know.

He turned a bit to her, finally looking more amused than annoyed.

"He's not exactly the reserved type."

No, no he was not- and he was probably no stranger to the threat of assassins, either.

"You seem a little upset."

She felt he wasn't as mad as he was before they left so she felt safe bringing it up, and his lips even twitched into an almost-smile, bolstering her confidence.

"Do I?"

His lightheartedness was infectious, and most (if not all) of Lux's earlier excitement returned.

"Just a little."

He gave her a good-natured roll of his eyes but turned his attention back to where he was walking. Lux wasn't sure how to broach the subject of what had (or hadn't) happened outside of her apartment, but right that second she was comfortable enough just sharing his company that she wasn't really worried about it. She was pretty absorbed in the fact that she was almost close enough for their hands to brush while they walked, and that she very much doubted Ezreal could find and disturb them now.

Which was not to say that other people couldn't.

Lux had opened her mouth to say something (it escaped her now) just as they were approaching another bend in the seemingly endless labyrinth of hallways, but was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of laughter; she might not have been especially concerned any other day, but she _recognized_ this laughter.

And so did Talon, when another voice chimed in.

It was the quite characteristic sound of a snort that belonged exclusively to Katarina, and the low rumble that Lux knew to be Garen's; both Lux and Talon stopped moving, sharing identical looks of concern, their earlier mirth completely forgotten.

From the sound of the laughter, both of their siblings were getting closer and near to rounding the bend in the hallway where they would find both Lux and Talon standing; they were too far down the hallway they were in to turn around without being seen, and for once Lux didn't have an immediate solution.

Did it really matter if they were caught? Would it matter if it was by Katarina and Garen, who weren't supposed to be seen together either? And to top it off, Lux didn't know whether or not Talon cared, and so she froze in the hallway, the impending laughter growing all the louder.

Fortunately for them both, Talon was a lot less conflicted about things; he grabbed Lux's hand and gently but very insistently tugged her back the way they came, not aiming for the end of the hall but for the first room they would pass. Lux hadn't thought of the obvious solution, and she didn't even have time to breathe a sigh of relief when Talon twisted the doorknob and found it unlocked. He held the door open long enough for her to dart inside and for him to follow, then quietly closed it behind them. Since the door had a slit of a window like every other room in the Institute they pressed against the wall to the right of it, out of sight even if anyone should look inside the dim room.

With everything that had happened that night, Lux's heart was pounding with the excitement of it all, and she tried to still her rapid breathing as she listened for the passing sound of Garen's laughter. She had to lean around Talon slightly (who was between her and the door) to see, but they both clearly saw when a dark shadow passed over the window of the door, along with muted chuckles, and they remained tense until it was gone.

Lux's muscles twitched with residual adrenaline, and after what seemed like a very long minute she was sure the danger had passed. She smiled, still breathless, and as if sensing her expression Talon turned with a similar look. They shared a breathy laugh of their own at the ridiculousness of it all, and although the room was relatively dark and not the easiest to see in, Lux was already staring at Talon's face and noted clearly the change in his expression; from animated to something… else.

She realized then, now that she had a free moment to, that Talon was still holding her hand in his and that in her effort to lean around him she had inadvertently placed herself just as close to him as he was outside of her apartment earlier.

Although similar to before, it also felt entirely different; there was no possible way for them to be interrupted now, no hesitation as Talon used the grip on her hand to pull her even closer, not a moment of indecision as Lux used her free hand to grab a fistful of his shirt and rose on her toes to meet him as he leaned over.

Lux pressed her lips to Talon's with a fervor she didn't even know she had, letting her eyes drift closed as she gave herself to the enveloping warmth, her racing heart, the fire behind her lips and underneath her hands. Her breath came in a wild gasp as they broke off the somewhat sloppy but surprisingly gentle kiss, and she could feel Talon's breath against her parted lips. Desire curled insistently in her belly, prompting her to free both hands and reach upwards to tug off Talon's hood, placing both of her hands on the sides of his face as one of his rested on her hip and the other tangled into her hair. They stayed there for a few seconds, thoroughly entangling themselves as they fought to reclaim some of their lost breath, finding newer, better ways to fit themselves together before inevitably leaning into another kiss.

It was slower this time and not as rushed or wild, decidedly much better now that they were even the smallest bit more familiar with each other; Lux's heartrate wasn't faring any better than before, but it was easy to ignore when every bit of her skin that touched Talon's felt like a live wire, and it didn't help any that her attention was not quite equally torn between trying to press herself even closer to Talon's chest and being distracted from effectively doing so because his hand had just slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, and even the roughness of his skin managed to be intoxicating.

The only other adjustment the pair made was to shift a bit so that Lux could lean against the wall and Talon over her (a position she never thought she'd find herself in as much as she had) and from there it was just the quiet sound of lips that fought for an understanding of a person that in all rights should have remained foreign.

And as much as neither of them wanted to stop, they were both short on breath and moving a little past the initial thrill of things, and it was with a mutual, unspoken agreement that they finally separated.

Although not far.

Talon let his forehead rest gently against Lux's as they tried to still their ragged breathing, and both of them relaxed their holds on each other, leaning a bit more comfortably together now that they had the chance to appreciate it. Lux let her hands slide down the sides of Talon's neck to rest at the top of his cloak, fingers curled loosely, and although Talon was no longer tugging her insistently and impossibly closer, she clearly noticed that he didn't move the hand still beneath her shirt.

Not that she minded- Lux very much wished that neither of them would ever have to move again.

She'd grown to be comfortable around Talon but this, of course, was something else entirely; his touch was constant but not invasive, surprisingly gentle considering who it was, and Talon himself was warm and encompassing, making Lux feel… safe.

And right.

She broke the spell a little bit to open her eyes but Talon was too close for her to see clearly, her voice still too breathy for her to even begin to think of saying anything. She let her left hand trail downward in lieu of words, stopping when it was in the middle of chest, fingers curling around his shirt. If she pressed her fingers to his chest a little more, she could feel the pounding of his heart, so similar to the tempo of hers and a constant rhythm beneath her touch.

"Lux…"

His voice was husky and deep, a different rumble under her hand, and although her fingers tightened around his shirt and she was filled with that same, building need as before, Lux laughed, all breathless and airy.

"You said my name."

His answering laugh was quick to follow (although Lux thought his voice sounded much more composed than hers did), and he caught her very much by surprise when he shifted the hand not on her hip to beneath her chin, tilting it upwards into a quick kiss that wasn't as heated as before, but brief and… happy, almost.

This time Talon backed away far enough so that they could see each other, his lips curled into a half-smile and the hunger in his eyes matching what Lux felt herself. His hair was a little bit of a mess because of how quickly Lux had tugged his hood off, but it was hard to notice that at all fixated as she was on that gaze of gold.

"Just this once."

Lux laughed again, grateful that her voice sounded a lot more composed now and happy for what seemed like more reasons than she could even think of; it was a relief to know for sure that she wasn't just imagining things between her and Talon. She wanted Talon badly, and she _had_ him, and that was a satisfaction that Lux had never really experienced because she'd been conditioned not to want things at all. And even though this was nothing new to her, she'd never felt quite the same about having her hands on someone like this before.

It didn't hurt that Talon really was very attractive, impossibly more so when he was smiling.

It would've been ideal to be able to stay frozen in that moment forever, but Lux's shoulder was starting to get sore leaning against the wall and if she stayed there with Talon any longer with the knowledge that it was late and neither of them had anywhere to be with no one to interrupt them, it would get increasingly difficult to convince herself that this was a good place to leave off for the night.

Lux slowly lowered her hands and reluctantly released the hold she had on Talon and he likewise followed suit, carefully disentangling himself and moving so that Lux could step away from the wall. It felt a lot like her skin was aching for Talon to put his hands right back where they were and she definitely missed the warmth, but it was somewhat of a consolation to trace a finger over her lips when Talon turned away to the door, replaying the memory of what it felt like to kiss a Noxian.

Amazing- certainly nothing near what she could have imagined.

Talon glanced quickly through the window in the door, but there was no one in the hallway and they were both free to walk out of what Lux was realizing looked a lot like a nearly empty supply room. She didn't give it a whole lot of thought as the door closed behind them, and they both set off in the general direction of Lux's apartment, which is sort of where they'd been headed before they were… stopped.

It was weird the way it felt like everything had changed, but also nothing at all; they walked companionably through the halls like they usually did, but Lux was hyper aware of the fact that she was walking closer to him than she'd ever felt comfortable doing before, and that this time their hands actually _were_ brushing. Her fingers itched in a very hard to ignore way to simply wrap around his, but she'd never been much of the hand-holding type and she doubted Talon was either, and she settled for simply shooting him a glance from the corner of her eye. He hadn't yet bothered to pull his hood back up (a change that Lux liked) and there was a bit of a residual smile clinging to his lips, and it struck her again how strange it was to see someone usually so stoic or angry so outwardly happy.

Although maybe the beginnings of a smile didn't count as apparently happy to most people, they certainly did for Talon.

Not a word passed between them until they actually got to Lux's apartment, and it was Lux that awkwardly, unwillingly broke the silence; they'd hesitated at the door, neither leaving nor going inside.

"So…"

Her voice wasn't timid, exactly, but slightly uncertain, because she surely didn't want to cut off her time with Talon even considering what time of night it was, and if his expression was anything to go by then neither did he- he just wasn't going to be the one that said it.

"I should be going."

 _Should_ being the operative word in that sentence. Talon hadn't moved at all since speaking, except maybe to lean just the littlest bit closer to her. As she had a few other times before when speaking to him, Lux gathered the courage to say something she knew she shouldn't, prompted by the assumption that she wasn't the only one thinking it.

"You don't have to leave, you know."

It was because she'd said the words before the courage failed her that Lux didn't really think them through, and the wolfish grin that replaced whatever look was on Talon's face before made her very much regret her poor word choice.

"Bold words, Crownguard."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, definitely regretting having spoken at all, but she didn't rescind the offer.

"That's not what I meant."

It was clear he knew that, but ever the one not to resist temptation, he was going to make things difficult.

"I think you'll have to explain, then."

Lux shook her head, her earlier daring gone completely, and tried to gently push Talon away with one hand.

"No, no. Forget it. You can go back to your apartment _alone-_ "

She was interrupted by a quiet laugh and Talon grabbing the hand that she was still using to try and push him a bit farther down the hall, ironically using the leverage to pull her closer.

"I'm kidding."

Her hip bumped his because she wasn't really putting effort into fighting the gentle tug, and as she tilted her head back to meet his eyes, she idly thought the height difference was eventually going to be quite the pain in the neck.

Literally.

It wasn't easy to be mad when Talon's eyes were so light, and it didn't help that neither of them had moved and that she much preferred the warmth Talon offered to the prospect of forcing him to leave. Lux fixed him with a glare that she hoped was believable, but tugged her hand from his and turned to open the door anyway.

"I'm going to regret this."

Talon most likely heard the mutter but didn't comment, which Lux thought was wise, following her into the darkened apartment and closing the door behind them. Lux didn't turn on any of the lights between the foyer and her bedroom (because if Talon looked even the slightest bit gloating she was going to lose it) and even after flicking on the bedside lamp in the room itself she just sat cross-legged on the side of the bed she usually slept on and idly twisted a strand of her hair between her fingers while she watched Talon almost nervously enter the room after her. It was weird how nothing about that looked strange to her; yesterday, she was almost too nervous to even go see Talon at his apartment, and today she'd kissed him in a supply closet and invited him into her bedroom.

To say things had taken a drastic change was a little bit of an understatement.

Maybe it was just because the shock of things hadn't quite worn off, but for whatever reason the sight of Talon taking off his cloak and laying it on the small dresser by the door and him settling comfortably on the bed next to her didn't feel strange or unbelievable, but more like this was something they'd been doing routinely for years.

To think she used to hate the person lying next to her was more mind-blowing than anything that had happened that night.

Lux flicked off the light when Talon was sufficiently comfortable, and although it was typically easier to do things that might normally make you nervous when people couldn't see you, it took Lux almost a solid minute of mentally working herself up to relax herself from her stiff sitting position to laying down, and even more internal pep-talking to inch across the bed to where Talon was and ever so slowly let her cheek rest against his shoulder. The rather sickly green light of her alarm clock gave off just enough light that she could see Talon maneuver his right hand so he could thread his fingers through Lux's left, and his thumb traced lazy circles over the back of their hand as they both considered the situation in a comfortable silence.

But not a lasting silence.

"This is weird."

Lux's voice had dropped to something only just above a whisper, soft-spoken enough that it didn't feel disturbing to the overall quiet. It was much more fitting that Talon snorted (a laugh that sounded an awful lot like Katarina's), the rough sound a stark contrast to Lux's voice.

"Very."

It was weird because even when Lux decided she didn't hate Talon anymore and preferred spending time relaying all of Demacia's deep dark secrets to him rather than avoiding him, it never crossed her mind that they would end up here. It was weird because Lux never, ever would have even possibly considered a Noxian making her feel anything more than misery, or that she'd be absolutely comfortable falling asleep next to one. It was weird that said Noxian was content to do the same thing, finding comfort in pillow talk and expecting nothing else.

With a low sigh Lux rolled onto her side, putting herself in a position better suited to using Talon's shoulder as a makeshift pillow and all the while maintaining the easy grip on his hand.

"This isn't very assassin-like behavior."

Lux was sleepy enough now that it didn't really occur to her that it maybe wasn't the best thing to say in the current situation, but very little perturbed Talon.

"I have a weak spot for blondes."

Lux smiled as she let her eyes drift closed, slightly adjusting herself so that she was perfectly comfortable and warm and happy, remembering that she should probably respond.

"A weak spot…"

Talon still traced circles on her hand, rough skin moving rhythmically over smooth, and Lux could just faintly smell mint and recall the tingle of his lips on hers. She was nearer to sleep every second she didn't finish the sentence, but she forced out one last word before the day's events finally pushed her over that small line between wakefulness and not.

"Noted."

* * *

Lux must've been more tired than she let on, because it wasn't very long after she sighed that last word that her breaths evened out and became slow, and the grip she had on Talon's hand loosened. His thumb stopped tracing that circle, and although he did look over, it was too dark for Talon to see Lux's face.

But he could feel her.

Every breath that whispered over her lips brushed his cheek, and although the position he was in was maybe not the most comfortable, Lux's curled up form was warm and soft, and he wouldn't have wanted things to be any different.

He probably shouldn't have kissed her before, but he'd made no secret of wanting Lux (to himself or her) and when the opportunity presented itself… Well, there was really no reason to turn it down at this point. He'd already decided on things. On her.

And that was why he was there and Lux was sleeping soundly next to him, and that was why he was unusually excited for the morning, and that was why even though he knew it _should,_ not a single thing about what they had done and were doing felt wrong. It was just… easy, around Lux. Comfortable.

Right.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Remember we're not blaming me, we're blaming someone else.**_

 _ **Also, bit of a side note- a lot of you reviewers ask questions that I don't answer because it might ruin something that hasn't happened yet, but if you don't mind it being ruined and really want your question answered, you can PM me and I'll tell you anyway :D I just don't want to do it here because not everyone wants that.**_

 _ **And Oceanbourne has told me that Ezreal's line about Noxians is just a joke, so now that that's all figured out…**_

 _ **KingBroskander- Usually no, but for the sake of this fic, yes. I'm (obviously) much more of a Lux/Talon and Riven/Yasuo kind of person.**_

 _ **TheMIxKage- Thank you, and I'm glad you liked it! C:**_

 _ **Garenkat Fangirl- So more cliffhangers, right? I didn't even notice myself doing that until this fic really, but there's just something about conversations over tea (or coffee) or any other drink. It's like casual, but doesn't have to be, and idk. It's so hard to explain. Maybe I just like to write people drinking together c:**_

 _ **It's a lot easier to talk about your own problems when they also relate to someone else- Garen and Kat make a pretty good parallel here. Of course this is just the beginning of addressing their problems, but… that's for later. I'm definitely excited to be writing more about the Crimson Elite/Riven. I feel like there are so many different relationships to cover in this fic, it's a lot of fun to explore.**_

 _ **SPEAKING of relationships I love to write, hello Kat. Lot's going on that she hasn't really mentioned to Talon yet because he's really made no secret of his distaste for politics, but she's not exempt from worry just because he is. Thank you thank you! C:**_

 _ **Tnechu11- thank you! I really appreciate you mentioning it- it means a lot to me, for sure.**_

 _ **Anthropomancy- It's my master plan to make every dislike Ezreal as much as I do- so far so good, I think. He probably would steal Ekko's Zero-Drive. What a jerk. I pm'd you already, but for anyone else wondering, Riven was presumed to have died in the war in Ionia. No one has heard from her since.**_

 _ **Jiyuu- (*ω)**_ _ **ﾉ**_

 _ **FlabberJiggles- Thank you! I definitely plan on it ^-^**_

 _ **zZzSapphireBluezZz- Thank you ;-; I just… wow. Thank you so much- that was an incredibly nice thing to say, and it means so much to hear. For the first part- I plan on switching more to Talon's point of view a bit later on, and I was even going to do the flashback thing for him that I did for Lux, but I was thinking that I would do that in the sequel to this fic (since I recently decided there's probably going to be one). But, definitely more from his point of view a little bit later down the road. As for his relationship with Kat- I see your point, but let me try to explain. They're both very brusque people and pretty uncomfortable expressing unnecessary emotion. It's kind of a big thing that Kat would worry enough about someone that's aggressively self-sufficient enough to ignore some pretty big boundaries and hunt him down to check if he's okay- the only other person she'd do that with is Cass. I think with Kat and Talon it's more about actions, not so much words? Like they do a lot for each other and would do anything for each other, but outwardly they're pretty sarcastic and typically kind of rude people, and it's pretty natural for Talon to just be short with her even though he does care for her. Hopefully that makes sense- I'm SUPER loosely basing this off of relationships with my own siblings, and other people with theirs. I know with my brothers we say some things that probably sound kind of awful if you're just listening in with no context, but we know it's not serious and that we love each other (please don't tell my brothers I said that) and that I'd do anything for them, and them for me. Same with Kat and Talon. It's just easier to pretend you're emotionless, you know? For them, anyway, since they've had to be that was for basically their whole lives, Talon especially.**_

 _ **She might ^~^ Hopefully this all makes sense! For some reason that was kind of hard for me to explain.**_

 _ **Guest- It's MeltedJujubees, same as here :)**_

 _ **Lux Du Couteau- Okay, NO teemo, but the torture part is definitely okay with me. That was a bit confusing, I realize now, but they weren't really walking together, just in the same direction- usually when Lux goes out with Garen and Jarvan and they're going somewhere after they're done eating or whatever, Lux kinda splits off a bit while they talk. Since their apartments are all close to Lux's hall, they all had to go the same way, but she wasn't walking with them anymore.**_

 _ **That is 100% how this fic is going to end.**_

 _ **There will be more Riven :D As for Quinn, you'll see! That's fine ^-^ I love when you guys ask questions, even though I feel bad because I don't want to spoil anything and I can't answer all of them. Thank you! I wish I could write faster than I do, honestly. It would be lovely.**_

 _ **Talon- Are you sure Talon. Are you absolutely sure you don't know why.**_

 _ **Guest- thank you! I'm glad you'll be stopping by again. C:**_

 _ **A fan- Hi! I'd never forget this fic, no worries. Thank you! I'm really no fan of the way Talon is portrayed in game (it's a bit robotic and lazy, to me) which isn't to say that what I'm writing is better or more realistic, but. I dunno. He does seem soft right now because when I write characters like this I tend to err on the side of softness, but we'll be getting more into darker bits of Talon and his past later on for sure.**_

 _ **This IS criticism, but like I said, if it's constructive like this with thought behind it and phrased politely, it's welcome. I like to explain things that people have questions with, because it's refreshing to get perspective outside of my own head and my own biases, you know? And like with Talon's personality, it's not right now, but I do plan on more action-y type things later on in the fic, so you'll see the relationship develop in other situations than just conversations over coffee.**_

 _ **Hopefully that answers your questions, and thanks for the review!**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Oh no I'd never I'd never give up on the fic, I just felt like some people didn't understand that they were being kinda rude and that it's really unnecessary to leave baseless, critical reviews on fics (not just mine) for really no good reason. All they do is just make the writer feel bad, which is… dumb. But, anyway. Thank you! I'd say sorry for the cliffhanger, but I love them too much c:**_

 _ **Erik- Thank you so much! Writing Lux's past is definitely one of the most enjoyable things I've written, and I'm always so glad when people enjoy reading it.**_

 _ **Dasher911- Not sure what to say to this review, sorry.**_

 _ **Penthesilence- Ahh, sorry! Thank you c: I'm keeping my eye out! I am soooOoooOO in love with your art (SO in love) and I'm like insanely excited to see anything Lux/Talon. I'm always thinking of your portrait of Talon when I draw him, it's just so amazing and striking and ahh. Have I fangirled enough yet? Regardless of the name, I always look forward to hearing from you ^-^**_

 _ **WhirlWind67- I laughed when I read this review (not at you, I swear) because it the night my friends and I played 11 arams in a row at like 3 am because we were on a 10 game loss streak. You didn't get sleep, none of us got sleep, it was terrible all around. But! I am sooo glad to hear you liked the fic that much, and I hope school wasn't too awful the day after c:**_

 _ **Seriously, Ezreal. What the heck.**_

 _ **Xoxopigtails- yeah children TEND TO DO THAT. Thank you! C: It just makes me feel so amazing when people say they like the way I characterize people, so thank you so much *^***_

 _ **Ulcaasi- You and me both though. Or maybe Ezreal is just a HUGE NERD. Either one. Talon pls.**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Thank you Garenkat Fangirl for reading my ridiculous amounts of emails, sent at equally ridiculous times of the morning.**_

* * *

It was no surprise to Lux to be woken up by insistent knocking on her door the next morning.

She expected it, but it was pretty early in the morning after a particularly late night for her, and coupled with the fact that at some point in the night she'd ended up with her arm thrown loosely over Talon's chest made her especially reluctant to acknowledge that someone was at her door.

At least until Talon himself woke up, groaning a bit as he rolled onto his side to face her and carelessly draping his arm around her waist.

"I think that's for you."

He didn't open his eyes and even buried his face a bit deeper into his pillow, and Lux regarded the sleepy murmur with a frown.

"Thank you for clarifying."

He smiled even as Lux detangled herself and maybe a bit too roughly pushed his arm away, reluctantly padding out of the room and to the door. She quickly tried to pat down the mess that was her bedhead, but there was really nothing she could do about her wrinkled clothes and generally disheveled appearance, so she opened the door anyway.

"Hey!"

Quinn gave her a smile that was a bit too wide considering the time of morning, but Lux at least attempted to return it; she leaned against the doorway, stifling a yawn, and Quinn raised a brow.

"You know we're supposed to see Ezreal soon, right?"

She'd kind of forgotten, actually, but she nodded.

"Yeah, I remember."

Quinn nodded slowly, giving her a look that strangely reminded her of Talon- like even though there was really no definitive expression on her face, you just knew that you couldn't so much as twitch without her seeing it.

"You didn't sleep well."

It might have looked like that from the fact that Lux was still wearing her clothes from the day before and probably looked terrible, but she'd actually slept better than she had in months, if maybe not as long as she would have wanted.

"Not particularly."

Quinn looked sympathetic now, voice dropping a tad lower.

"Nightmares?"

It would be easier for Lux to just blame it on that even though she hadn't had a nightmare for a while since coming to the Institute, and she curled her lip a bit.

"Yeah."

Quinn reached out to gently lay a hand on Lux's arm, concern etched in every line of her face, and Lux suddenly felt pretty awful about lying.

"I'm sorry. We'll meet in half an hour, okay? Jarvan's apartment."

Her touch lingered after Lux had nodded, and after giving her arm a tiny squeeze Quinn turned away, leaving Lux and allowing her to close the door behind her. She _did_ feel bad about lying to Quinn when she was clearly so concerned for her well-being, like she'd always been, but it was a better alternative to admitting that she hadn't spent the night alone.

And with Talon, of all people.

The reminder of which had her wasting no more time before returning to her bedroom, and for some reason she half expected Talon not to be there; it was actually a relief to see him still tangled up in her sheets and holding a pillow to his face, and she slowly eased herself into the same spot as before, doing her best not to wake him.

Considering he immediately shifted his arm back into the position it was in on her waist before, she wasn't successful.

Lux maneuvered her own pillow beneath her cheek and wormed just the tiniest bit closer to Talon so that the back of her hand touched his shirt, and when she stopped moving he opened his eyes, not looking quite as tired as she would have thought.

"I have to leave soon," Lux murmured.

She didn't want to, obviously, but she'd been avoiding her friends long enough that it was probably going to start becoming suspicious, and she couldn't blow off Ezreal after what had happened yesterday- that would be asking for disaster.

The hand Talon had barely touching her hip curled around her now, and there was something about the movement that felt the tiniest bit possessive.

"Do you?"

His voice was quiet like hers but his gaze drifted, and Lux doubted he was actually listening for her response; the theory was reinforced when Talon's hand slid slowly down her leg, and when it was in the spot he wanted (just around mid-thigh) he hooked her leg around his hip, slowly as if he was waiting for Lux to stop him.

A thought that never really crossed her mind.

She didn't feel the need to carry on the half-hearted conversation either (because concentrating on her breathing seemed like a much better use of her attention) and she freed the hand beneath her pillow so that she could place them on the sides of Talon's face, taking the initiative and erasing those few small inches between them.

It wasn't the rushed, heat of the moment type kiss of the night before, but measured and building, the kind that allowed for small adjustments- Lux moving her leg so that it was stretched at a better angle, Talon returning his hand to its original position, both of them settling as comfortably as possible against each other. It was almost lazy the way their lips moved, and brief snatches of conversation found their way through what was otherwise mostly silence.

"Where are you going?"

He sounded genuinely curious despite how distracted they both were, and Lux took a moment to take a bit of a breather and murmur a reply.

"I have a date."

She smiled against Talon's lips, but he seemed a lot less amused then she did; he moved so that his mouth touched her neck now, and the warm brush of his breath over her skin made her shiver.

"Really."

She nodded, her face serious even though he couldn't see it.

"It's very important, but I shouldn't be long."

The whisper against her skin turned into the slightest graze of Talon's teeth, something Lux hardly felt before it was replaced with a kiss.

"Interesting."

His voice implied it was anything but, and Lux thought about ending the joke, but she blamed her lack of response on Talon; he was leaning over her a bit so that he could position himself the way he was, but in a fluid motion moved both Lux and himself so that she was situated comfortably beneath him. He was careful to keep the majority of his weight off of her, but Lux was having a bit of a difficult time drawing breath, and her attempt at taunting him couldn't even be called half-hearted.

"Have I upset you?"

His answer, by comparison, sounded a lot more even.

"Not at all."

He certainly didn't seem it; he returned his lips to hers with maybe just the slightest bit more intensity than before, but that was secondary to Lux; she focused on the trail his hand was taking, from resting on her hip to the same spot only beneath her shirt now, pausing there while he gauged her reaction.

Her judgement was marred a bit by the fact that this was all done without breaking the kiss, but the warmth that radiated from his touch was pleasant, and, well…

Lux chalked her allowance up to curiosity.

He was content to take things slowly, it seemed, his hand resting a bit above her hip now, thumb brushing the smooth skin of Lux's navel. Parting their lips to take a breath was the only disruption, and even that didn't last long; Lux tugged him back before she was even sure he'd sufficiently caught his breath, and it was in her eagerness that she made her second mistake.

Her first was to allow the touch at all, but the second was to arch her back, forgetting in her need to be nearer to him that Talon's hand was awfully close to something she didn't want to share. Encouraged by the movement, Talon shifted his hand to the small of Lux's back (perhaps in an attempt to make it easier for Lux to stay arched against him) but whatever his intention was, the second his hand touched the scars there Lux froze, immediately darting a hand down to his. Her fingers closed a bit too tightly over Talon's, not hard enough to hurt, but the motion was quick and practically instinctual, and he allowed Lux to remove his hand.

A lot of the movement after that was slow and unsure; Talon leaned away and Lux released his hand, and although seemingly reluctant to do so, he shifted his weight off her and gave Lux the space to sit up. Her heart was racing in a completely different way now, and she kept her eyes downturned as she tried to think of what she could say that would even begin to explain the reaction.

"Sorry."

She couldn't think of anything immediately, but the silence had quickly grown uncomfortable; it was a long second before he answered, but Talon's voice was calm and even.

"Don't be."

Lux figured he thought she was apologizing for the wrong thing; she twisted the hem of her shirt in her hands, hearing him shift on the bed but still unable to look.

"I just…"

She just had this life-altering secret that she'd been hiding for almost six years, and because she'd never considered telling anyone, she couldn't even begin to think of how.

"Have you never…?"

It took Lux a second to register what he said, and she finally looked up to glare.

"Seriously?"

He held up his hands, clearly aware that Lux was upset and deciding not to take her momentary anger to heart; Lux reminded herself that Talon really had no idea what was going on, and it wasn't fair to be mad when she wasn't giving him much to go on. It was easier for her to remain calm than she thought it would be, and Talon was patient while Lux scraped together enough words to form the beginnings of an explanation.

"I have this… thing."

Catching the look on his face, Lux held up a hand before Talon could say something stupid again, and she took another breath while she thought of how best to approach the subject.

"I want to tell you."

Because she did, she realized; she was comfortable enough with Talon that she would actually prefer for him to know rather than keep that side of herself in the dark, but when she tried to explain things, the words had a habit of sticking on her tongue. To Talon's credit, he didn't look hopelessly confused by Lux's non-explanation; his face was pretty wiped of any emotion, actually, but he regarded her evenly and nodded.

"I understand."

The fact that he was still not really inclined towards any one emotion worried Lux more than anything, and even though she didn't think Talon was the type to get angry with her for drawing lines, this was new territory between them and she wasn't really sure what to expect.

"Are you upset?"

He shook his head, but a small, small frown knit his brow.

"No."

She waited for what he wasn't saying, but he didn't seem inclined to share any further.

"But?" Lux prompted.

"But we've had this conversation before."

And they had, in a sense; Lux had hinted at hiding something before, with similar promises of later, soon, maybe. Talon wasn't an especially patient person, not usually, and the fact that he was making an exception wasn't lost on her.

But she had herself to think about- she'd tell him, when she could.

"I'm trying."

She'd had time to warm up to the idea of letting this secret go, and she wasn't really sure why she was so afraid; it happened a long time ago. It wouldn't affect her relationship with Talon- at least, it shouldn't. Still, it didn't get any easier to say the words, and nothing about Talon's blank stare was helping the situation.

He reached out a hand, and they were sitting close enough that he hardly had to move to cup Lux's chin, and to slowly (again giving her ample time to decline the motion) pull her into a very soft kiss, speaking against her lips after a moment.

"Is this okay?"

It wasn't much of a question; the kiss was boring, almost (if that word could be applied to Talon at all) and nowhere near her scars, but she nodded anyway.

"Yes."

And to show him just how okay it was, she just as slowly pushed him back onto the bed, swinging a leg over his hip so that essentially their earlier positions were reversed; she leaned low over him to hide her expression, a bit surprised to find that her movements were really not as hesitant as she thought they would be. She pinned his hands to the bed with her own, keeping them far away from her back, and her answering kiss was fiercer than his, just a bit more daring. Warmth curled beneath her skin and she was filled with that budding desire again, but the minute she began to consider letting things progress, she pulled away.

"This," she breathed, airy and faint.

"This is okay too."

Talon's fingers curled around Lux's, but he didn't try to break her grip or move very much at all, actually; he seemed perfectly content with where he was, and the satisfied smile Lux was faced with when she leaned away made her flush.

"I think these are mixed signals."

Lux bit her lip, glancing away from his smile, but that was as far as she wanted to move for the moment.

"I'd say sorry, but…"

But she wasn't, and he clearly wasn't either, and she was pretty glad with how easily distracted they were; it was simple to forget the small snag in conversation before when they'd both rather… _not_ talk.

But there was also another distraction to think about; a quick glance at her alarm clock confirmed that her half hour was nearly up, and she released Talon's hands and crawled off him with a resigned sigh. Ignoring the eyes on her back, she drifted to her little dresser, thumbing through her clothes to find something a little less wrinkled to wear. Upon finding something acceptable, she took her clothes to the bathroom, changing quickly and splashing some much-needed cold water on her face. She took a bit more time to examine herself in her mirror, but she was certain that there was no outward evidence of her having spent the night with Talon, and after running a brush through her hair she was back to usual, boring self.

Which she would have to be for however long Ezreal's meeting lasted.

Leaving the bathroom, Lux was a little disappointed to see that Talon already had his cloak on and looked about as prepared to leave as she did; she wasn't actually sure what she expected him to do while she was gone, but it made sense that he didn't want to stay in the empty apartment and just wait until she got back. She led the way out (purposely, this time, grabbing her baton off the couch) and after ascertaining that no one else was in the hall and then leaving the apartment itself, she turned to Talon with a bit of a frown.

"I'll see you later."

It was phrased like a question, because she didn't know if Talon was coming back or not.

"I'll be in my apartment when you're finished."

And he turned to go, expecting Lux to do the same, but she lingered with that small frown creasing her brow, and a similar one formed on his in the shadow of his hood.

"Is it a problem? We can-"

In a pattern of behavior that was becoming quite regular, Lux disregarded better thinking and did something she normally wouldn't; she stepped quickly to Talon and placed a kiss on his lips that was a little too lingering to be a proper goodbye, but she made sure to move fast enough that she'd broken the kiss and turned around before she could catch the expression on his face.

"Later."

* * *

Talon watched Lux dart around the opposite bend in the hall without so much as a backwards glance, and comfortable with the fact that no one was around to see, lifted a finger to gently touch his bottom lip. He wasn't one for goodbye kisses (since he was going to see Lux in a few hours anyway) and the whole concept seemed a bit silly to him, but, well…

He wasn't going to complain.

He left the Demacian wing with none of the relief he used to, because he was dogged by thoughts of Lux- her lips, her touch, of the new possibilities they'd opened themselves up to last night; it seemed a very dreary prospect to spend his time alone when he could be exploring those new possibilities instead.

Or not- he thought back to Lux's expression after she'd stopped things before, wondering what exactly it was that he'd done to set her off, and what she was hiding. The curiosity that prompted him to pursue her in the first place burned in him again, and he felt like he was back to where he'd started; back to trying to pry lose that one, big secret that Lux was hiding. She said she wanted to tell him and Talon believed her, and although he'd never really attempted to before, he tried to be understanding.

An annoying sentiment, honestly.

But he remembered the distress on Lux's face and how she apologized to him even though _he_ was the one who'd upset her (unintentionally, of course, but still) and he thought that it was possible for him to be patient for just a bit longer. For Lux, anyway- after all, if her actions this morning were any indication, they could probably find something else to occupy their time together.

His stomach curled in the weirdest way with something he thought was very close to anticipation, and he was suddenly restless; he doubted Lux would be gone for very long, but his lip curled when he was well into the Noxian wing, and when he arrived at his own apartment he lingered outside instead of going in.

And then decided to keep walking.

No, alone time is not what he wanted right then, which was certainly unusual- although admittedly not the most unusual thing he'd done that morning.

And with still so much time left in the day, he doubted it would be the last, either.

He didn't have to walk very far before finding the room he was searching for; it had been a few weeks since he'd been there, but the training room he'd frequented with Katarina thankfully was lit from the inside, which was less luck on his part and more that this was the time of the morning Katarina usually did her training. He pushed open the door expecting to find the redhead inside, and wasn't disappointed. Katarina was already covered in a fine sheen of sweat, well into her workout, but she paused before launching whatever knife was in her hand across the room to nod to Talon.

"What do you need?"

He raised a brow as the knife flew from her hand, taking a few slow steps into the room.

"What?"

The look she gave him was tinged with a bit of undeserved exasperation, he thought, and she took a deep breath before she explained.

"You're weaponless and haven't been here in forever. I can only assume you need something."

He shrugged (she wasn't wrong) not taking offense because a very large part of their relationship was based on needing something from the other; there was nothing Kat couldn't ask of him, and vice versa. Now was really no different.

But today, his need was a lot simpler; a distraction for a few hours, and nothing more.

"Ouch."

His feigned wounded look garnered no sympathy, and Talon could feel Kat's eyes on his back as he walked to retrieve the knife she'd thrown; he easily pried it loose from the unfortunate dummy it had landed in, and turned to walk back to Katarina. For some reason, the watchful look on her face made him the slightest bit uneasy, and when he was close enough to her to spin the blade through his fingers and offer her the hilt, he couldn't help but ask.

" _What?_ "

She took the proffered knife with a frown, turning it over a few times in her hand before answering.

"Nothing."

Not much of an answer.

She tried to move around him, perhaps to avoid his next question, and Talon naturally stuck out an arm to stop her; he hardly even caught her arm, but she jerked it out of his grasp with certainly more force than the casual movement called for, and the vicious look that flashed across her face almost had him backtracking.

They froze for a moment, content to glare, before Katarina stomped off.

"Did I miss something?"

Clearly, he had; he'd done nothing except walk through the door, had hardly said anything, and nothing ill had happened between them since he'd seen Katarina last- her anger, to him, was completely unfounded. She stalked back to him though, and he suddenly very deeply regretted handing her the knife back.

"Are you going to tell me where you've been? Or are we still pretending nothing is going on?"

He'd actually hoped that that was exactly what they were going to do- just pretend that nothing was happening. He'd done it for her in Noxus, when she first started seeking out Garen, and he expected the same courtesy. He was surprised, also, that Katarina had deigned the situation worthy of her attention, because she was usually content to let Talon do as he pleased without a complaint on her part. It was their thing- a mutual trust that allowed them to function so well together.

But it seemed to have disappeared now, for whatever reason.

He wished he hadn't come to see her, but there was no way for Talon to have guessed that Katarina was angry with him, and his next best option was to leave and occupy his time elsewhere, where the company was either less hostile or nonexistent.

"Goodbye, Kat."

And she did the same thing to him that he'd done to her, when he turned away; darted a hand out to catch his arm, but instead of ripping it out of her grip, Talon allowed her to turn him around. He could leave and he could avoid her, but there was really nothing worse than having a pissed off Katarina after you, and he figured he couldn't keep his involvement with Lux a secret from her forever; he was really doing a poor job of concealing it thus far, and he'd never liked keeping secrets from Kat, anyway, because he'd never had to.

It would be easier in the long run to just get it over with now, before she figured it out for herself; she'd be considerably more furious if he let that happen.

Kat scrutinized him with that same pinched expression like she'd licked something especially sour, her brow still furrowed in anger, but the fact that Talon wasn't fighting her to leave indicated she was close to getting the answers she wanted.

"This better not have anything to do with Swain."

Talon's expression quickly mirrored hers, and he was surprised that her first thought was that he was spending his free time…. What? Working for Swain?

"What? No."

He was surprised at the relief on her face, because he thought they went through this, and that he was transparent enough in his dislike of Noxus and its current General to ever get mixed up in their shady politics.

Considering her initial assumptions, maybe she would take to the knowledge of what he'd actually been doing a little better.

"What, then?"

She was either out of ideas or didn't have the patience to guess anymore (both seemed likely), and Talon shifted uncomfortably on his feet, unwilling to just come out and say it.

Which was fine, because Katarina liked to think out loud.

"I can't imagine who else you'd be seeing. No one talks to the summoners, Darius hates you, the Ionians hate you, _you_ hate the yordles."

She was right on all accounts, but he raised a brow, and the confused frown on her face puckered even more when she realized who she'd left out.

"The ranger?" She said, quietly, hopefully. Because it couldn't be Jarvan, or her Garen.

Ignoring the fact that he definitely did not want to, Talon gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of his head.

After giving it a good second to sink in, Kat threw her hands in the air, taking to pacing angrily in front of Talon instead of facing him. Her anger was so intense it was almost a palpable, touchable thing, but Talon neutrally watched the agitated movements, generally nonplussed.

All things considered, she seemed to be taking it rather well.

"For fuck's sake Talon, that's… that's completely unoriginal, for one thing!"

She wasn't yelling very loud, but she waved the knife in her hand at him on one of her passes, and Talon bit back a smile; no, he supposed it wasn't. She didn't pace for very long, however, and when she stopped in front of him again the motion of the knife in her hand was a lot less amusing.

"So, you're what? Sleeping with Lux?"

His almost-smile entirely forgotten, Talon bristled at the accusation (because although close enough to what he was doing, Katarina phrased it very insultingly), and he pressed his lips into a very, _very_ thin line before answering.

"No."

Technically it was a lie because he had literally slept next to her last night, but he knew what Kat meant.

"What else is there? You've spent every day with her for _weeks._ "

Because to Kat, if he wasn't having sex with her, then there was absolutely no other reason Talon would ever deign to spend his time with the Demacian; he wasn't allowed to kill her, so what else, in her mind, could there be? In a handful of sentences Kat had reduced Lux to something beneath a person, which was shocking considering it was her brother that Kat was so fascinated with.

The anger that flicked through him this time felt a lot more personal, and he was very much done with the conversation.

"I'm not about to explain it to you. And I have somewhere to be."

He moved too fast for the stunned Kat to simply reach out and stop him from moving now, but she followed him all the way to the door, her anger almost matching his.

"Do you have any idea how stupid this is? How dangerous it is, too? What if people find out?"

And he couldn't stand it anymore- Katarina's biting tone, her condescension, or the glaring double-standard, and the look on his face when he whipped around was enough to silence anymore questions from her.

"You could ask yourself the same thing. Or you could ask Garen, if it suits you better."

A brief flash of hurt cut through the fury on her face, but Talon was right; she had no room to speak, no base to stand on to talk down to him the way she was. The last thing he had to do was answer to Kat.

And he was gone before he had to, slamming the training room door behind him.

* * *

Jarvan's apartment was actually the farthest away from Lux's.

Whereas hers was located near the entrance of the Demacian wing, his was a hallway over in the corridor he shared with Garen; compared to the Noxians the apartments were practically on top of each other, but it gave Lux ample time to collect herself and straighten her clothes and find the perfect, most comfortable grip on her baton.

She hesitated outside of the door when she arrived, unsure whether to let herself in or knock, and as she raised her hand to do the latter, she couldn't help but wish that she was at another apartment in a different wing.

Still, Jarvan greeted her with a familiar smile and waved her inside where everyone else was already waiting; Quinn was in the armchair with Valor perched on the headrest, Ezreal had a kitchen chair pulled up next to them both and was chattering away while he gestured to the giant blue bird, and Garen waved at her from the loveseat that was identical to the one in her own apartment. Taking that as her cue to sit, Lux plopped down next to Garen on the couch, exchanging a greeting but unable to help avoiding his eye, feeling that if she met them for too long he'd be able to tell where her distracted thoughts kept returning.

"Do you know what all of this is about?"

Garen murmured the question so that only Lux could hear, which wasn't very difficult; Ezreal and Quinn were still engaged in an increasingly-animated conversation about proper talon care for eagles (which had caught Lux's attention at first, until she realized what they were actually talking about) and Jarvan was in the process of dragging his own chair over, more or less oblivious to the whispered conversation between the two siblings.

"Not entirely," Lux said.

She knew Ezreal wanted to tell her where Cassiopeia's glyph was from and that he had other news to pass on from Maddick, but besides that, she really didn't know. She was too busy hoping that he wouldn't bring up her being with Talon yesterday to wonder at what else the meeting was for.

She was equally torn between relief and terror when Jarvan cut off the conversation, prompting Ezreal to clear his throat and start the meeting.

"Alright."

The blonde clapped his hands together, eyeing each of the Demacians seated in front of him and lingering, Lux thought, on herself a bit longer than the others.

"I don't want to keep you here forever, so let's just get started. You'll probably get a little more in-depth information from your superiors because they'll want to hear from you directly, but I was asked to pass on some information."

Everyone was paying careful attention now because they'd had a few weeks away from the obligations forced on them when they were in Demacia, and although the break was appreciated, they still had jobs back home. Being called back or being sent somewhere else was only an eventuality.

Although for Lux herself, she wasn't so sure. If she was caught in Noxus it would have even more consequences now than it did before, since the League would have to get involved. Quinn could be sent any number of places and soldiers had more uses than just bloody battles, but spies…

A limited skillset, in times of peace.

"Lux's last deployment into Noxus was to gather information on one Miss Cassiopeia Du Couteau."

She noticed when Garen stiffened beside her (a reaction she shared, probably) and only nodded in affirmation when Jarvan and Quinn turned to her to confirm.

"Of course no one told me why, but I was able to pretty easily find out where she was going, thanks to Lux. The glyph you found in her home was from Shurima. It's pretty ancient and I can only guess at its true meaning because a lot of the translation is speculation, but it basically means to 'arise'."

Lux was probably the only one who looked especially interested, because no one else in the room had been involved with the mission; if it was unclear even to her why the information regarding Cassiopeia was important, then it was completely lost on everyone else.

Ezreal just shrugged.

"It gives me an excuse to go back to Shurima I suppose, but other than that I don't actually know how it affects you. What does, though, is what's going on in Noxus."

This time, everyone perked up- even Valor seemed to be sitting straighter.

"What do you mean?"

Garen was the first out of them to ask, and Ezreal's rather flippant expression from before twisted a bit.

"Things haven't been going so well since the war ended. For them, at least. I haven't been to Noxus to see for myself, obviously, but there's a lot of unrest. Swain ending the war wasn't a very popular decision."

That didn't seem to surprise anyone seated; they all knew very well how much the Noxians loved war.

"Why would Swain join the League at all then?"

Quinn voiced the question that was running through everyone's mind, and had been when they all first arrived at the League; why join if peace wasn't something you wanted?

Ezreal could only shrug again.

"My guess is as good as yours. Swain might have been pressured or scared of the League. You guys can't feel it, but Lux and I- there's some serious magic at play here. I think it was probably Swain's best move not to anger the summoners."

Ezreal had a good point- Lux wasn't as good at it as he was himself, but she could definitely feel the magic in the Institute. If Swain of all people thought that it was a better move to join the League (even considering the backlash from his nation) rather than risk angering the summoners, that spoke volumes about the power they had.

Lux's thoughts flicked to Talon again, focused as they were on Noxus; she wondered how the turmoil there would affect him, if at all. It definitely didn't seem like it was at the moment.

"Even Caitlyn is worried, because there's no way for us to know what's more threatening to Swain- Noxus, or the summoners."

The silence between everyone was tinged with an impending sense of dread, almost, because they were all so concerned with possibly being pulled back into work, when really the threat of war could still be looming over their heads. Unrest in Noxus usually meant terrible things for the rest of Valoran, if history was anything to go by- terrible enough that even the sheriff of Piltover was getting uneasy.

If Swain decided war was more beneficial to Noxus than being part of the League, then, well…

Lux wouldn't be out of a job for long.

A familiar stab of panic raced through her before Lux realized this was all still speculation, and weak speculation at best, since Noxus had been joined to the League for so short a time; it was too soon to say how the country would fare without war when no one had given it a chance. She tried to comfort herself with that thought and the knowledge that even the Noxians themselves (well, just Talon) didn't seem worried, and upon realizing the grip on her baton had grown painfully tight, tried to loosen it.

She hoped beyond hope that Ezreal was wrong and that the situation in Noxus wasn't as dire as he made it sound, because she couldn't go back. Not now, not after she'd tasted peace and fallen into a rhythm that made her at least somewhat happy.

And if Noxus left the League, then Talon would leave also, a thought that troubled Lux more than she thought it should.

Lucky enough for Lux (although she definitely didn't feel like it) the somber mood that hung over the group now prompted Ezreal to cut the meeting there; he'd done what was asked of him, after all. He relayed to them what they needed to know, and it was up to their superiors to go from there. And, much to her surprise, he'd left out Lux's meeting with Talon, something she half expected him to bring up in front of everyone.

Lucky again.

They were all pretty eager to split off and digest the information given to them in their own way, and Lux found herself leaving the apartment alongside Quinn; her friend was silent, troubled, the bird on her shoulder mirroring her expression almost shockingly well with hunched shoulders and a tucked beak. Lux wished she had the words to comfort her, but there was nothing she could say to ease the fear that came with the threat of war.

The walk from Jarvan's apartment was slow, and Lux mostly kept her eyes on her hands; she was making a conscious effort to keep her grip on her baton loose and comfortable, surprised at how badly the tension in her gut wanted to manifest in a bone-crushing grip on the baton. Such was her focus that she didn't really notice Quinn observing her from the corner of her eye.

"You look better."

Her voice was quiet, like she was reluctant to break the silence, but also eager to start a conversation that had nothing to do with Noxus; unbeknownst to Quinn, it was a Noxian's doing that she didn't look absolutely miserable.

"I don't feel better."

After what Ezreal had said, she didn't; even the thought of soon seeing Talon wasn't exactly helping her growing anxiety.

Put off by her answer, Quinn chose not to further the conversation, and that heavy silenced followed them to Quinn's apartment. They hesitated outside, not wanting to leave on such a sour note but not wanting to break the silence, either.

"I don't think it's as bad as Ezreal thinks. Noxus has always wanted war. If it was a threat, we'd know."

Quinn had a decent point, but Lux wasn't so sure she agreed; maybe it was just because she was more inclined to pessimism than her friend, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the problem in Noxus was worse than even Ezreal anticipated.

She didn't know _why_ she felt that way, but as it was, it was hard for her to answer.

"Yeah, maybe," Lux replied slowly, in no way convincing Quinn that she agreed.

Quinn weakly raised a hand in farewell, and even Valor gave her a forlorn look as they entered her apartment and closed the door. Lux didn't linger in the hallway any longer than she needed to, first making sure that no one else was in sight and then immediately setting out of the Demacian wing. She didn't feel much better as she left the wing behind her, but it was some small consolation to know that at least for a few hours, she'd have something else to think about that wasn't Ezreal or Demacia or countries at war.

No, she'd have the distinct pleasure of seeking comfort from an assassin.

She walked a little slower for a moment or two, wondering if it wouldn't be better for her to spend some time alone, but she quickly answered her own thought with a resounding negative; she moved quicker after that, hardly paying attention to whether or not she was being seen or followed, which mattered little to her because she got to her destination just that much sooner. She weaved through the halls she wasn't supposed to be in and stopped at the apartment that wasn't hers, absolutely sure this time that etiquette called for knocking and lightly tapping her knuckles on the door.

The answer was a bit long in coming- long enough that she briefly questioned whether or not she correctly remembered Talon telling her to meet him there, a thought that was interrupted by Talon himself answering the door. The corner of his mouth twitched into an almost-smile when he saw her, but aside from that, he looked as down as she felt.

It was probably awful of Lux to think so, but she was almost glad; it was distraction enough to wonder what was bothering him that her own thoughts didn't feel so depressing.

"What's wrong?"

Talon shook his head as he let Lux inside, speaking more to the door he closed behind her than to Lux.

"Nothing."

Lux wasn't really surprised at not being answered, and she was fine with waiting until later to bring it up again; right now, she wasn't sure she even wanted to talk. She much preferred to settle herself on the small couch in the living room, waiting for Talon to sit next to her so that she could slowly and carefully let her head rest on his shoulder.

It was getting a lot easier, the casual contact.

It was nice to share the warmth and Talon didn't seem to mind, and Lux was comfortable enough to close her eyes and let out a small, weary sigh. She thought that it would help to be here and that she'd have other things to think about that had nothing to do with Noxus or Demacia, but she couldn't help that her thoughts kept turning to how miserable things would be if she couldn't see Talon anymore. It got worse as she followed that particular train of thought, because she realized that when faced with separation, Talon probably wouldn't care.

Certainly not as much as she would.

Oh, what a mess she'd gotten herself into; and so quickly, too. Leave it to Lux to find the worst possible person in the Institute to fixate on.

"Your morning didn't go well."

Even though it was just a murmur, Talon's voice sounded a lot louder considering where Lux had her head resting, but she didn't mind; she didn't even open her eyes to answer.

"I could say the same to you."

He huffed out a noise that might have been an attempt at a laugh, but it was too half-hearted to really succeed; instead, he let his cheek rest on the top of her head, fine with not supplying a real answer or another question, and content with the silence.

She was too, she realized; for now, not talking seemed much better than getting into anything that had happened that morning. But the more comfortable she became and the more Lux realized she probably wasn't going to move from that spot for a while, the more she wanted to say just one last thing.

"I'm glad you're here."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **A fan- Don't hate it! Fanfic is life. Nah, not TMI. I think I probably write Lux with personality traits of my own- it kind of just happens, so don't worry :D**_

 _ **Of course I'm going to finish it ;-;**_

 _ **Stallord- Same reason as everyone else, I suppose :p I laughed so hard when I saw that review lol.**_

 _ **TheMixKage- That's it, we figured it out. We can all go home now. Will do!**_

 _ **FlameCatcher- aww. Everything about relationships are hard…. Ahhh.**_

 _ **Whirlwind67- Ahh, there it is. We'll just have to wait and see ;D**_

 _ **Naovan- Thank you! It was definitely a fun scene to write! The parallels between Kat/Garen and Talon/Lux are something I want to focus on a lot. Thank you so much, and you are absolutely welcome ^-^**_

 _ **Antonio- a Fanfiction reader- ahh Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying things. I'm hoping the rest of the story isn't too predictable, but I guess we'll see! The baeblades don't make too much of an appearance, but I haven't forgotten them :] Best wishes to you, too!**_

 _ **zZzSapphireBluezZz- I do my best ^-^ Thank you! Although, I feel it pertinent to say now- there won't be smut, but, you know…**_ allusions _**to smut. Sort of. I have a very vague way of writing those types of things, but you'll see soon enough.**_

 _ **I'll admit I have a weird way of writing dialogue (so I've been told more times than I needed to, maybe) but I felt that scene wasn't too confusing. For Lux to have compared her voice to his means she needed to speak, although I could see how I worded it a bit strangely, but also for Talon's laugh to "answer" her means that she needed to be the second speaker. I do know what you mean though, and I'll try to be more clear about things like that ^-^**_

 _ **A bit of an excuse here, but it's really hard (for me personally) to give the amount of characters I've included the attention they deserve. I know that Quinn's and Garen's character have really fallen off after they joined the Institute, but a bit later in the story I plan on having more scenes with them, and more with Kat and Talon. I know a weak spot in writing for me is the way I kind of include people and forget about them according to what I need for the story, but I am definitely working on it.**_

 _ **But right now, we're in full swing Lux and Talon, yay!**_

 _ **I am most definitely, probably, going to end this story on a cliffhanger (it's my thing, what can I say) but I won't forget about the sequel. It'll probably take a bit for me to start it since I haven't got it all planned out yet and I want to finish one of my other fics after I finish this one, but rest assured- it'll happen. I was planning on using Quinn, actually, and writing from her perspective, but Valor would be interesting too- but that won't be for a little while c: (also, I very much appreciate the gushing- feel free to gush more c;)**_

 _ **Nice hearing from you!**_

 _ **Guest- Thank you!**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- I just spit my coffee, omfg.**_

 _ **Ah, yes. Awkward scenes. My favorite.**_

 _ **Bellezzaincantata- Oohhh thank you so much! Welcome to the ship, and thank you for the review! ^-^**_

 _ **Nic- Awww c:**_

 _ **Galubushka- Thank you so much! And it's my pleasure to write this story, honestly. I didn't know a whole lot about Talon before this fic either, but gosh do I love his character now.**_

 _ **A fond fan- Ohh wow, I'm so glad you've been enjoying it! Thank you so much! I put a lot into fleshing out Lux, and I'm always sooo so happy when people compliment it *^* It means a lot to me, for sure.**_

 _ **To your other review:**_

 _ **I wanted to write Ezreal as being very, very smart, but pretty flippant and flighty. I…. am trying to be as nice as possible because I, honestly, hate him, and for this fic at least, their history is only friendly. But very friendly, like Lux and Quinn's relationship, although theirs is a bit more professional. Ezreal always helps her with missions and getting information for her (like in this chapter) and they both trust/rely on each other. And holy moly, I absolutely hate supporting Ezreal whenever I'm forced to support. He. Is. USELESS. Oh gosh I would never stop it there ;-; there is so much angst and fluff to go!**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Aww thank you ^-^ I am very glad you enjoy it c:**_

 _ **Xayafate- Ohhh thank you so much! Eyyyy, we match now! And that is very cute c: I'm forced to play Lux support a lot more than I want to (mid or feed pls) and can confirm they work amazing well on the same team. Your review made my day, and thank you sooo so much!**_

 _ **Lioriel- So am I- your fic was wonderful, and it's so much fun playing with you guys *^* My thoughts on Lux exactly. Thank you!**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N:**_ **¯\\_(** **ツ** **)_/¯**

* * *

For the next week, Talon and Lux mostly confined themselves to his apartment.

It was farther from everyone else than her own apartment was so they were less likely to be visited, and even though they were basically identical, Lux for some reason felt more comfortable falling asleep in his bed than her own. And comfort, right now, was really what Lux wanted; Ezreal's news about Noxus didn't feel as dire as it did when he first told her, but it was especially nice to have a week where she didn't have to think about anything related to war.

And she got to know a lot more about Talon than she thought she would.

He seemed more open to answering Lux's questions about his past when it was late and they were tired, when Lux liked to rest her head on his arm or his chest and let the sounds of his even breathing and quiet murmurs lull her to sleep. The week ended exactly like that; Lux curled comfortably in the crook of his arm, her own arm resting lazily across his chest. He'd been twisting a strand of her hair between his fingers, but he stopped when Lux voiced her question.

"What was it like to live with the Du Couteaus?"

She knew the answer already having lived with them herself, but she was interested in his perspective; what must it have been like to be adopted and trained by one of the most notorious men in Noxus?

"Very… Different," he said slowly, and Lux was going to complain about the lack of answer when he elaborated a bit.

"I had to answer to Marcus, but I was fed and trained."

He shrugged the shoulder Lux wasn't occupying like those were the only two things a person could ever possibly want or need. She supposed it might be, if your life before that had been nothing but fighting to survive.

"You said you didn't always get along with Katarina…"

Or he'd said something like it, a while ago in their little training room; something about growing to respect each other.

"Yes. To say that she was angry when Marcus adopted me is an incredible understatement."

Lux tilted her head a little so that she could see Talon's face, but he only caught her eye briefly before turning his attention elsewhere.

"What changed?"

Neither of the assassins were the type to go out of their way to make someone like them, and Lux was especially curious to know how someone as abrasive as Katarina had come to think of Talon as a real member of her family. In light of the question Talon looked back at Lux, smiling a bit wryly as he used his free hand to tug the collar of his shirt just below his collarbone. The movement exposed the top of a knotted scar, the big one that cut across his chest, and Lux raised her eyebrows when she realized what he was getting at.

"I don't think she expected me to survive, but she had a lot of respect for me when I did."

Lux was pretty shocked for a moment, until she remembered who it was that they were talking about; all things considered, it would probably be weird if Katarina _didn't_ try to stab him at some point.

"That's…"

Lux tried to think of a euphemism for brutal, but Talon just let out a low laugh.

"That's Katarina."

There were clearly no hard feelings there.

In fact, he said her name with a fondness she'd never heard in his tone before, something that sounded an awful lot like when Quinn talked about their own friendship. The warmth in his voice was a pleasant change from the usual, and Lux tried to think of another way to prolong the conversation.

"What about Marcus?"

Lux didn't know an awful lot about the man because her previous positions in the household had never allowed her to get especially close, but she knew he was quiet and hardworking, and from what she'd seen of them together, she knew that he loved his daughters very much.

Did that extend to Talon, she wondered, or was he more of a project than a son?

Lux knew it wasn't his favorite topic, but he didn't seem especially bothered right then; the fingers of his free hand crawled over hers, and he laced them together while he thought of the right words to sum up his adoptive father.

"Tough, but…" his voice trailed off a little, and resumed with a more hard-edged inflection than before.

"As much a father to me as he was to Kat."

Lux chewed over the words, trying and struggling to fit Marcus and Talon in a father-son dynamic. As hard as she tried, she couldn't really imagine Talon in that role; she couldn't imagine what he was like when he was younger almost at all, actually.

Had he always been as merciless as he was in Noxus? Was he just as sarcastic, or expected to be more serious? What exactly was his relationship like with Cassiopeia? How badly had Marcus' disappearance hurt him?

She had plenty of questions on her tongue and more that raced through her mind and countless hundreds she hadn't thought of yet, and it occurred to Lux that with someone as complicated as Talon, she could probably spend the rest of her life seeking those answers and still not truly know him.

She frowned at where their hands were, the thought for some reason making her uneasy; unable to pin down exactly why, she sat in silence until it abated, and by then she figured it was late enough that she should probably go to sleep. As if reading her thoughts, Talon repositioned so that they were both more comfortable, shifting the arm beneath Lux from laying on the bed to curling around Lux's waist.

And Lux had a fleeting thought before falling asleep that it would be all too easy to do something like this the rest of her life.

* * *

Lux's conversation stayed with Talon the next day.

Most mornings he was awake before Lux, although maybe not by much; he'd often spend whatever time he had before she woke up in whatever position he woke up in, usually weirdly off to one side of the bed with his hand still wrapped around Lux's, or something of the sort. It was always pretty amusing to see Lux with wild bedhead when she was usually careful to look put together.

But today, the bed was empty; Talon stretched lazily, hand encountering nothing, and when he was awake enough to realize that it should have encountered resistance, he got up. He didn't expect her to be in the living room, and she wasn't. There was a note on his countertop written in an impressively neat and fluid script (which he was not surprised by) that was short and, if actually said by Lux, probably not very sweet, but definitely to the point.

 _Spending the day with my brother. I'll be late._

It wasn't even signed.

Talon ran his thumb over the note but discarded it right after, actually somewhat relieved that his day was open; following Lux's example now, he wanted to see Kat. It was stupid to let her stay angry when she had no reason to be, and Talon really did not like being on the outs with his sister. Of anyone, he had always relied on Kat the most, and to think that he couldn't just because she was angry with him for seeing Lux was nothing short of ridiculous.

Not that talking with Kat had ever really made her see sense before, but it would be remiss of Talon not to try.

So just like last week, Talon waited until that time of morning when he was sure Katarina would be nowhere else but training; his timing was just as impeccable as Katarina was predictable, only this time when she saw him she was a lot less open to conversation. If Talon wasn't standing in front of the door, she would have immediately tried to leave, but as it was, she was stuck until she felt like forcing her way out.

If he was lucky, that meant Talon had a minute or two.

"What, is Sunshine busy today?"

Katarina sneered the words as she sheathed her daggers on her back, crossing her arms with exaggerated petulance. Although Talon hadn't really expected the conversation to go nicely, he couldn't help but purse his lips in irritation; he rarely called Lux by her actual name, but it sounded so much more demeaning when Katarina was the one doing it.

"Isn't Garen?"

Judging from the look on her face, he was; and that was what Lux's note had said, anyway- she'd be with Garen. Talon sighed, mirroring the way Kat had her arms folded across her chest and deciding to just get it over with.

"You really don't have a reason to be angry at me. I've been quiet about you and Garen for months."

And not only just in general, but Talon didn't even bring up the relationship to Kat; he hadn't even questioned it when she forced him to go to Demacia to kill his would-be assassin.

Which reminded him, actually, that it wasn't for Garen after all- which was probably a conversation for when he saw Lux again.

Kat stuck out her bottom lip into an expression that belonged on the face of someone a fourth of her age, preparing to argue even though Talon was right.

"It's not the same."

Her glower had simmered down to a pout, because she probably realized how ridiculous that sounded.

"Kat, it's actually _exactly_ the same." Talon sighed in stifled exasperation, resisting the urge to throw up his hands and roll his eyes exactly like she would have done.

Kat did roll her eyes, however, suddenly finding her shoes very interesting.

"Well technically no, not if you're not sleeping with her…"

Ugh.

Although not what he wanted to hear, Kat wasn't spitting her words at him anymore. It was progress, at least.

"Are you done being unreasonable?"

She nodded without defending herself or offering a retort, which Talon thought was odd until she opened her mouth again.

"Yes, but…"

"But what?"

Talon didn't have it in him to endure another jibe at Lux or something condescending leveled at himself, but he decided to hear her out against his better judgement.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" She asked, quietly this time, and there was real concern in her voice.

Talon didn't really think it was a _good_ idea- it just wasn't a bad one, to him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you think it's going to last?"

If anything, that only served to confuse him more; what would it matter if he saw Lux for five days or five years? It didn't change things now.

"Does it have to?"

Kat shook her head.

"No, but after the last time…"

"After Riven," she clarified, ignoring Talon's sharp intake of breath and the fact that the subject was completely taboo. And she asked again, to be absolutely sure.

"Are you sure this is a smart decision?"

Talon couldn't help that his blade hand curled into a fist against his chest and he was sure that the glare he leveled at Kat was nothing short of terrifying, but he reminded himself that he was here because he was the one that wanted to talk to her; he didn't want to ignore her bringing up the one thing he'd asked her not to, but Talon didn't want to go right back to fighting with Kat either.

"It's not like that."

And it wasn't; Lux wasn't Riven. To compare the years he'd known Riven to the weeks he'd spent with Lux was reaching on Kat's part, and completely unnecessary to even mention in Talon's mind.

Realizing the mistake, Kat bit her lip, awkwardly rubbing a hand over her neck.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

He waved his hand, eager to just ignore that Kat had spoken.

"Forget about it."

Kat nodded, grateful to put it behind them, and after a couple drawn-out seconds of tense silence, she spoke up with an attempt at a lighter tone.

"Are you busy tonight?"

With a steadying breath, Talon shook his head, remembering the note Lux had left in his kitchen.

 _I'll be late._

"No. Why?"

Kat clapped her hands together, an excited smile on her face now that only looked a little bit forced.

"Awesome. They're showcasing a match tonight in that new restaurant. We can watch the Pilties kill each other, it'll be fun."

Talon probably would have said yes to anything Kast suggested simply because he had nowhere else to be, but he raised a brow.

"That's fun to you?"

Kat just shrugged.

"Open bar."

Talon cracked a stiff smile at that; it was the only requirement Kat really had for a good time, and it was a big bonus to his night, too; they could both really use a drink after everything lately.

"Sounds great."

* * *

Lux didn't want to spend the day with her brother; she didn't want to be anywhere near people, actually. But it wasn't because she didn't want to see Garen or Quinn or anyone else.

It was because it was the twenty-first of October.

To anyone else, insignificant; to Lux, a day of completely unnecessary attention, proven the second she walked through Quinn's door.

"Happy birthday!"

Lux cringed through her good-natured smile, accepting Quinn's hug; over her shoulder, Valor gave a welcoming shuffle of his feathers.

"Thank you," Lux said stiffly, although she sounded anything but grateful. After having spent many a quiet birthday with her, Quinn knew how badly she wished the day didn't exist, and she smiled knowingly.

"You can make it through one day."

Lux was inclined to disagree, but she'd resigned herself to today's activities anyway. What those were, exactly, she didn't know; she'd just promised Quinn sometime during the week that she would leave seclusion to see her and her brother.

Because it was the first birthday she would spend with Garen since even before her conscription.

A familiar wave of unease passed over her when she thought of the time it'd been since she and Garen had done anything resembling normal together; it was a very long time indeed since they'd been allowed to be a family, and it was why Lux was maybe a little less reluctant than she might have been.

Not that she really _wanted_ to be there.

It would actually be more beneficial than most days to be with Talon because it had slipped Lux's mind to inform him of the day's significance, and it would have been nice to not have to fake a smile the entire time she was with him. Although, now that she thought about it, she doubted Talon put as much importance into birthdays as Quinn and her brother did; that realization only served to prove her point.

But, like Quinn said, she could make it through one day of doing just that; it wouldn't be terrible for them to all go do something together, either, especially with how things had been lately. They could all use an extra bit of brightness in their lives right now.

They wouldn't be meeting Garen until later (at an unspecified location, much to Lux's annoyance) so Lux made herself comfortable on Quinn's couch, sitting close enough to Valor's perch so that she could gently run a finger over the feathers on his chest, just the way he liked. She was a bit surprised when the eagle shied away, letting out a strange sort of chirp that she'd never heard before while he settled out of arm's reach. Lux frowned at the moody bird, almost offended.

"Your bird is being rude. And on my birthday, too."

Valor cocked his head to the side like he understood Lux's words and was reconsidering his actions, but Quinn frowned briefly, just enough for Lux to catch it before she replaced it with a smile.

"I'm sorry- he'll get over it, probably."

Lux doubted that; she knew the bird well enough to know that he harbored all the stubbornness that Quinn did not, but she decided to let the avian faux-pas slide. Lux set her baton on her lap and settled into the couch cushions, grateful that she'd gotten a decent night's sleep for once; she somewhat regretfully recalled disappearing on Talon that morning, but she wasn't in the mood to explain where she was going, and she doubted he really minded anyway.

"Can you really not tell me where we're going?"

Quinn immediately shook her head.

"Nope- I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm pretty surprised that you haven't figured it out yourself, though."

The frown was back on her face again, only lingering this time, and a similar one appeared on Lux's brow.

"How would I?"

It wasn't like Quinn had given her any hints, and she hadn't seen Garen for him to tip her off. Not that he would, anyway. The ranger cocked her head to the side, studying her with a quizzical expression that probably better belonged on her bird.

"You haven't gotten a letter or anything about it? I mean, I thought that everyone did."

Lux realized she'd kind of messed up there- she hadn't been to her own apartment long enough to check her mail all week, nor was that anywhere near what was on her mind when she was there; she was usually just concerned with getting in and out before anyone found out that she was leaving.

Lux had an excuse on the tip of her tongue, but Quinn shook her head, waving her hands like that also waved away the conversation.

"It doesn't matter. It'll actually be a surprise now."

Lux suppressed her sigh of relief, although she cared little for the element of surprise; for now, at least, she'd avoided suspicion, which was pretty much her main concern for the day. Suffer through her birthday, and avoid questions.

Easy.

It was somewhat difficult after that for Quinn and Lux to busy themselves until it was time for dinner; they got breakfast in the mess hall, chatted idly about anything and everything, and they even took Valor outside to stretch his wings, who still seemed miffed at Lux for whatever reason. They had a late lunch after that and returned to Quinn's apartment, and she had hardly even gotten the door open and the light on before she was greeted with yet another shouted "Happy birthday!"

Evidently Quinn had dragged her around so that Garen and Jarvan could sneak into her apartment and surprise them; and she _was_ surprised, actually, enough so that her smile this time was genuine when greeted with the well-wishers. It was marred a bit when Garen wrapped her in a hug that made her feel oh so very small, but after a bit of initial stiffness she returned it the best that she could. Lux smiled into Garen's shoulder, thinking that the day was actually turning out quite nice.

"Happy birthday, Lightbulb."

Lux tightened the hold she had on Garen, feeling very grateful indeed that he was there to say those words.

"Thank you."

It didn't stop there, though; after being held at arms-length, Jarvan passed a neatly wrapped box with prim little bow from himself to Garen, who proffered it to her with a sheepish sort of smile. Lux gingerly took the present with a heavy lump in her throat, because the last time she'd been given a gift (she absolutely refused to allow Quinn to get her anything for as long as they'd known each other) was her ill-fated thirteenth birthday. She tucked the baton she'd received under her arm so that she could hold Garen's gift, feeling all the while that no matter what was inside, it was bound to be much too generous.

"It's from both of us," Garen explained, gesturing to Jarvan behind him, as Lux gently ran a finger over one soft edge of the bow. She held her breath as she lifted the lid to the box, handing it to Quinn so that she could reach inside and retrieve her present.

"It always got so cold around your birthday- in Demacia, at least. You used to steal my scarf and run around the house."

Lux lifted her own scarf from the box, letting the silky cloth practically drip between her fingers and admiring the quality of it. It wasn't the same color as Garen's, which was Demacia's standard navy, but the deep, sunset orange that Lux loved so much. It actually had a tiny, monogrammed sun on one end, and Lux laughed, although tears were just beginning to sting her eyes.

"It's perfect," She whispered, immediately taking it out of the box and wrapping it snugly around her neck. It was such an amazing gift to receive when she had expected nothing, and Lux couldn't have been happier to admit that she was completely, utterly wrong about how she expected the day to go; not that it was over quite yet, but she doubted there was anything that could ruin it.

"Thank you so much."

She gave Garen another lasting hug and even stepped way on the edge of her toes to give Jarvan one too, and the smile that graced her face after that was tinged was embarrassment; the first birthday she was spending with her friends, and she was on the verge of crying.

"Alright!"

Quinn clapped her hands together, her grin much more confident than Lux's was at the moment.

"Let's get moving, shall we? We don't want to be late."

Lux had almost forgotten about the mysterious end destination, but the rest of them clearly had not. She let herself be led out of the apartment, and Quinn immediately took them in a direction headed out of the Institute; Lux herself hadn't been to this part of the building before, but it wasn't long before they actually left the main building and ended up outside.

Garen was right about it getting cold around her birthday; Lux adjusted the scarf around her neck, another wave of appreciation washing through her.

Since coming to the Institute, Lux hadn't been outside except briefly, and most times it was just to see Quinn when she was in the gardens; they walked on a short path through the more tame parts of it, and Lux was surprised to see that not only was there light filtering through the greenery, but noise too; voices rising and falling that grew more distinct the more they walked, until they were off the path and suddenly in a strange sort of clearing that accommodated only one large, bright building.

 _The Garden Grill._

"Surprise!"

Quinn held her hands out to the restaurant like it was made just for Lux, a grin on her face.

"They're showcasing the Piltover champion's first match tonight as sort of a grand-opening kind of thing. We thought it would be fun to grab dinner and watch Ezreal flail around for a while."

They all shared a laugh at that, although Lux was pretty shocked she'd missed something this big happening; she must have been more out of the loop lately than she thought.

But Lux did have to admit, the place looked nice and the night they proposed sounded like plenty of fun, so she led her group inside where it was thankfully much warmer than outside. It was busy in the restaurant even though there still wasn't a significant amount of champions in the League at the moment; it seemed like everyone not participating in the match and every single summoner that could be was there, ordering drinks from the bar or seated around tables and waiting to be served.

Well, not everyone, Lux realized, her eyes scanning the room and failing to find the one person she was almost eager to see, but she even spotted Darius and Swain in one dark corner. The sight made her a bit uneasy, but tonight felt special; she hardly paid the pair another thought as the four of them found their own table to sit at, just in front of one large screen that the match would be played on.

The restaurant itself was homey, almost, with the bar on a raised floor in the back of the open room, several decently spaced tables just beyond the front door, and everything was paneled in dark wood and covered in small, twinkling tea-lights. It gave the impression that the restaurant was sort of a tucked away grove in the middle of the gardens, and Lux was finding that she very much enjoyed the atmosphere.

It was easy for the four Demacians to delve into a conversation after that, and Lux was finding that their mood was infectious; they were all so happy to be together and to have something normal to do and something to celebrate, and there were plenty of jokes passed between them, hardly a pause in their laughter or a break in their smiles. Quinn complained lightly about not being able to take Valor, Garen and Jarvan placed bets on who would win the match that would begin any moment, and Lux watched the merriment on her friend's faces with a constant smile.

The group was served their food just when the match started (Lux had opted to order the same salad-type thing that Quinn had) and there was a break in the conversation as they all turned their attention to the screen, taking the opportunity to stuff their faces and cheer on their friends. It was a good twenty minutes into the match (Ezreal's team was winning, not that Lux was surprised) when there came the only break in the excitement; unnoticed by virtually everyone else in the room, the only two people that had been missing from the festivities thus far walked across the floor and directly to the bar, weirdly graceful and practically moving in sync. The taller of the pair briefly caught Lux's eye as they strode past their table (which was in the middle of the room and impossible to miss), the corner of his mouth twitching briefly into a smile.

A small, small smile that Lux had just enough time to return before Talon turned away and returned to his conversation with Katarina.

And even though Lux couldn't just walk over and talk to Talon like she would have wanted to, she was happy to see him and happy that he would be enjoying the night like everyone else, and she turned back to the match even elated than before.

It was a decently one-sided game in Piltover's favor (and the purple yordle that had assisted the sheriff) that was over a lot quicker than most of the League matches were, and when the victory was assured both Garen and Jarvan let out loud, echoing cries of triumph, repeated a couple of times around the room by a few of the summoners.

The general quiet of the room while the match was ongoing was broken up by dozens of voices now, the hum a nice background noise to Lux's own conversation; she listened to Jarvan pick apart the Piltovian's decisive victory from a military standpoint while Garen nodded along in agreement, and although Lux was trying to follow along and add as to much to the analysis as she could, she couldn't help the occasional flick of her eyes to bar that was occupied by what was now several people. Once or twice she thought she caught Talon's eye, but he was sitting too close to Katarina for her to want to stare long enough to find out for sure, and she didn't want anyone at her table noticing, either.

She was grateful as she usually was for another distraction; both the teams from the finished match joined everyone else for dinner, and although the sheriff and her colleagues sat at their own table, Ezreal pulled up a chair to theirs and joined the conversation like he'd been part of it the entire time. He bragged about the win and declared to them all that it had been no difficult thing to achieve, _really,_ and they all ordered desert while Ezreal gave a first-hand account of the game.

Lux was pretty caught up in Ezreal's embellished tale, so she didn't immediately notice when a waiter set a plate in front of her with one little slice of cake stuck through with a single candle, but she definitely noticed when everyone at the table went silent and looked at her with expectant eyes.

Oh no.

Sure enough, the four people seated around her launched into a ridiculously loud rendition of 'Happy Birthday', Garen making sure to hit high notes that Lux didn't even think was in the song, Ezreal accenting the voices that were in surprisingly good tandem with wild hand gestures. Lux kept her gaze on the table, red-faced and absolutely mortified, cringing at every word and feeling the eyes of what had to be every single person in the room focused on her and her table.

As the last note faded into a poignant silence, Lux hastily blew out that stupid candle while everyone clapped, joined by a few of the summoners as well, and Lux stared at her hands until the noise had faded. After the song was over, everyone was pretty much content to occupy themselves with desert and carry on a few disjointed conversations (Ezreal was even shouting over to Vi at one point, a table and a half away) and as Lux awkwardly jabbed her cake with a fork, she yet again glanced over at the bar.

Her glance didn't go unnoticed this time; she locked gazes with that familiar gold stare, Talon staring neutrally at Lux over the rim of the glass in his hand while she remembered he had no idea about the whole birthday thing. She almost felt guilty for not mentioning it.

He broke eye contact long enough to put down his glass and murmur something to Kat, and then just enough so that only she could see, nodded to a door off to the side and behind the bar where Lux assumed the hallway to the bathrooms were. He disappeared into said doorway almost immediately after, and Lux waited what she hoped was an appropriate amount of time before likewise excusing herself from her own table.

She kept her eyes down as she crossed the room and tried to keep her walk smooth, but she felt certain that every eye in the room was on her again, and she walked a bit faster than normal the last few steps to the door. The din from the main body of the restaurant muted considerably when it swung closed behind her, and the little hallway that did indeed lead to the bathrooms was dimmer, but not enough that Lux couldn't clearly see where Talon leaned against the wall. She leaned her left shoulder against the wall in a similar fashion in front of him, unable to meet his gaze now that they were alone.

"I would've said happy birthday, but…"

His voice trailed off as he lifted a hand to tug at the edge of her new scarf, and Lux bit her lip as she tilted her head back to finally look at him.

"Sorry."

He didn't look particularly offended and Lux couldn't help but smile, happy to have a few stolen moments alone with him; she leaned up eagerly on her toes, met halfway by Talon in a kiss that felt very long overdue. Lux wasn't sure what it was about this kiss in particular that felt different to her, but in their usual bid to get closer, she felt more daring, deciding to tentatively slip a hand underneath Talon's shirt and trail her touch over the muscles of his stomach. He gave a slight shiver in response, but leaned into Lux's kiss even more, tangling a hand in her hair with a sharp intake of breath.

His lips tasted like alcohol and there was nothing romantic about kissing Talon in the back of a restaurant where at any moment someone important could walk in, but Lux knew that if they had been alone, she wouldn't have given a second thought to her scars or to better judgement or entangling herself further with the assassin; she knew that she wouldn't have stopped that kiss, no matter where it led.

And so it was with a hint of frustration that Lux eventually pulled away, stubbornly keeping her hand pressed to Talon's skin, and wishing, _aching,_ that they were anywhere else.

"We could-"

Lux's voice was breathless, needy, and quickly cut off by Talon's.

"Leave?"

She managed a nod, and since it was Talon that had left his company first, he was the first of the two to head back out; Lux reluctantly removed her hand and he straightened his hood, leaving the miniscule hallway with an easily feigned nonchalance. Lux waited what she hoped was an acceptable amount of time before leaving herself, although she was antsy and could hardly even wait that long, and the activity of the restaurant seemed so loud and irritating after the quiet she'd just enjoyed. She returned to her table and tried to immerse herself in the conversation again (complaining about the long bathroom lines) and she tried her best to fix a believable smile on her face all the while her foot tapped restlessly against the floor, glancing more than once at the bar to make sure that Talon was already gone.

Upon realizing he was, Lux took that as her cue to leave herself.

She gave a bit of an exaggerated yawn when there was a break in the conversation, declaring to everyone present that she was tired from the day's festivities and was very much in need of rest; if anyone noticed how keyed up she actually was, they didn't say anything, and after exchanging a few more thank you's and several more happy birthday's, Lux was finally allowed to leave. It was painful, almost, to maintain a normal pace out of the restaurant, but once outside she was immediately greeted with the touch she craved so badly, full of warmth and desire and a need that matched Lux's own.

And neither of them wasted any time getting back to Talon's apartment after that.

* * *

Ezreal had known Lux for a very, very long time- long enough that he knew when she was hiding something, because Lux so rarely did that.

He was as immersed as anyone else was in the conversation at their table, still recounting the finer details of the match and still trying to relive the excitement of his first win, and he didn't immediately notice anything off about Lux; considering the lengths she was going through to make it look like nothing was going on, Ezreal doubted anyone else did either.

As subtle as she was, Ezreal still caught a few furtive glances across the room to the bar where the Du Couteaus were sitting, and although that could be passed off as simple curiosity or her just finding something to distract herself with when she couldn't relate to the conversation, what followed could not be so easily brushed off; Ezreal saw when her hooded 'informant' forsook the bar and headed into the backroom, seemingly off to use the bathroom. He also noticed that a minute or so later when he still had not returned, Lux excused herself to do the same thing.

It wasn't a long time before the assassin came back out- certainly not long enough to arouse suspicion. Like he expected, Lux did the same an appropriate amount of time later.

And now that he noticed the behavior, it did not surprise Ezreal in the least to see that same murderer stride out of the restaurant with that ever-present smirk a couple minutes later, followed quickly (but not too quickly) by Lux, who claimed to be tired and wanted to head off to bed.

He didn't say anything.

He should have, because Lux was making a huge mistake; clearly she was lying about meeting with the Noxian just for information. Why he believed that lie in the first place, he wasn't sure, but he was certain now that Lux was digging herself deeper and deeper into a situation that would, best case scenario, end up with her hurt; worst case scenario, she ended up dead, just like all of the other Demacians that had met their ends at the hands of the man she so willingly snuck away with.

He couldn't let his closest friend self-destruct.

What kind of terrible person would he be to just allow Lux to do something so obviously stupid? It was her birthday, so Ezreal stayed quiet, but he didn't plan on letting Lux throw her life away. He would talk to her before she got caught, and if she wouldn't see sense, well…

He'd have to think of something else.

* * *

It took an unusual amount of time to get back to the apartment, although for once, Lux wasn't complaining.

The normally empty halls of the Institute were completely abandoned now, considering that everyone was still celebrating at The Garden Grill; this meant that every time the couple grew impatient or desperate for a better touch, they could stop to sneak in kisses and caresses until they were finally at their destination. Inside the apartment, Lux almost never let her lips leave Talon's, a feat she wasn't sure how she managed; somewhere along the way of figuring out how to maintain the kiss while moving, Lux's scarf was abandoned on the kitchen counter, Talon's cloak on the couch, Lux's sweater on the living room floor, Talon's shirt on his dresser…

And everything else, by the time Talon was pressing Lux into his sheets in a way that was familiar yet entirely different, and this time Lux had no inhibitions about arching into him, not a single thought when he ran his hand up her back to bring her closer except that she'd never felt warmth like this before, and that close to him would never be close enough to her.

But Lux was fine with attempting to achieve the impossible.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Talon's scar was an idea I stole from Tahimikamaxtli who wrote that in one of his Talon/Quinn shorts (go read it pls).**_

 _ **Whirlwind67- Ah yes, sweet sweet disruption. Thank you!**_

 _ **Mosen- I'm sorry ;-; That's very accurate to say! That perfectly describes what I'm trying to achieve here, so thank you *^* Make sure to link me the comic if you ever make it! I would love, LOVE to see it. Feel free to add me on League! My summoner name is the same :)**_

 _ **WhiteWinterDragon- Oh gosh, thank you *^* If you're looking for very fleshed out Garen stuff, I would love to suggest Garenkat Fangirl's fic! It's cute and angsty and she gives Kat and Garen their dues, and then some. As for my fic, I'm certainly trying to include him more. Thank you again!**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- I think we need more tension, if anything. Right? More is good.**_

 _ **Guest- Hi! No, you weren't really missing anything- I was just making a really stupid joke lol. Plenty more warm and fuzzies here =w=**_

 _ **iFireLightning- Here's more! Still gonna mess with your heart tho**_

 _ **Oceanbourne- Okay it was funny because I actually had a HUGE debate with myself about whether or not that part of the sentence should be in parentheses or commas. I'm also self-conscious about my excessive comma use so I opted for parentheses, but that's good advice and thank you!**_

 _ **I accidentally deleted part of my response and can't remember exactly what I said, but basically no one really thinks the summoners are evil, they're just wary of people that are so powerful. The summoners just want war to stop, although good intentions aren't always achieved by the best of actions, you know? As for their reactions, it might have been a little much, but these are also all people who've been at war for more than a decade and have suffered personal losses (Garen is estranged from his parents and hasn't seen Lux although he knows she's being forced into service, we all know about Lux, Quinn has lost her brother, Jarvan has all the stress of actually fighting the war and being imprisoned in Noxus, and also the knowledge that he's going to inherit the war someday) and they've been at the Institute for just around two months where everything is nice and pretty peaceful, only to find out that things are really not working out as planned.**_

 _ **I think it's pretty understandable for people as weary as themselves to react the way they did, because none of them want to go back to war. Also they're not blackmailing Swain because he voluntarily joined the League, but now that he's part of it he forfeited his right to wage war unless both he and the country he's warring against aren't part of the League anymore. Demacia should definitely be less worried about the prospect of war if Noxus wages one because they'd have the League on their side, but I don't think that they would just let the League fight for them; I think, given the history and their pride, they'd want to fight the war themselves. I'm a teensy bit confused about the end of the review here, because Lux isn't really worried about the summoners, she's just worried that Swain isn't going to think that staying in the League is worth the risk of letting his country fall into chaos. Since Talon is allied to Noxus and would have to leave if they did (unless he joined back as unaffiliated, which I doubt he would do to avoid repercussions with Swain and so he wouldn't have to leave Kat) she's worried not only about going back to war, but losing him.**_

 _ **Also Lux is a chronic worrier, and there's plenty of stressful stuff right now for her to focus on. I'm really not sure if this answer made any sense lol but I hope it did, I was getting kind of confused. BUT I'll answer any other questions if this block of text didn't already.**_

 _ **Anna- Here's more! Thank you so much ^-^**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**A/N: I meant to have this chapter up by like, mid-November, but I've been having a shitty time lately, and I didn't have the time or motivation to write. I'm feeling a bit better, so hopefully the next chapter will be out in a timelier manner.**_

 _ **That being said, happy belated holidays and a future happy new year!**_

 _ **Also, if you haven't already- everyone should go read Sub Rosa by Kaylightly. It's M Talon/Lux and it's amazing.**_

* * *

Some of Lux's common sense caught up with her the next morning.

Not right away (because she was too comfortable to pay her more negative thoughts much attention at first), but slowly as she eased out of a pleasant slumber. Admittedly, it was a lot easier than usual for Lux to tune the thoughts out; she was warm, wonderfully so, and her skin felt hyper sensitive where it touched Talon's, and she felt more well-rested than she had in weeks. And oh, was she _happy;_ she'd yet to move or open her eyes, but she could feel without having to look that Talon's arm was draped around her and that his hand was curled around hers where it rested on her pillow, and she could feel his chest pressed to her shoulder and that even if she _was_ warm (edging towards burning, the more her thoughts raced) the faint brush of Talon's even breaths on her bare skin left behind a fine trail of goosebumps.

Common sense told her she should not be in bed with the assassin, but she'd been ignoring that advice for quite some time, and was never happier to be doing so than right at that moment.

And since she didn't want to spoil the feeling with anymore pointless worries, Lux took a small breath and relaxed deeper into Talon's easy embrace, savoring the comfort the touch offered and delighting in the knowledge that right then, she had no other obligation than to enjoy the circumstances she was given. Sufficiently satisfied, Lux eased open both eyes, her lazy gaze drifting immediately to her loosely curled hand, still resting on her pillow. Talon's hand wasn't touching hers all that much, just the tips of his fingers resting against the back of her hand, and she slowly pulled away from the ghost of the touch, flipping her hand palm up and pressing it to his, and then ever so carefully pulling his hand a little closer to her face. She paused, taking note of the steady breathing still fluttering over her neck, and convinced that Talon was still sleeping, she traced her finger over a thin slash of white on his skin, a scar that curved around his wrist and arched onto the back of his forearm. From there, Lux's finger mapped out a line of other scars, travelling over the ridge of every knuckle and ringing every finger, surprised that she'd never really noticed the sheer multitude of marks on his skin before. Granted, she usually spent her time with Talon lip-locked or arguing, so she valued the quiet moment she had now to simply observe.

She burned with curiosity now, alongside the heat that still flushed her skin, and she wanted to know how the scars had been etched into his skin, if he remembered receiving them, where was he what was he doing how did he _feel._

Everything. She wanted to know everything.

Lux again had the obligatory feeling that she shouldn't, obviously, want such things, but the thought was immediately swept away and forcefully forgotten. There was no sense of duty, however long instilled, that could deter the need she felt for answers, and for Talon- she realized that now, although whether or not the epiphany was genuine or influenced by the fact that was still wrapped up in him and his touch and his smell and every memory that came trickling back to her from the night before was still left to be determined.

And determined later.

She was suddenly intolerant of the silence and stillness, and Lux chewed her lip as she debated whether or not waking Talon was in her best interest; she very much doubted he would be too upset, and, she reasoned, he'd been asleep long enough- longer than her, anyway. She wiggled her left arm free from where it'd been falling asleep under her pillow, carefully rolling over so that she was facing Talon's chest. She waited for a reaction, but there was no movement from his end, and she tilted her head upwards, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his jaw as she ran a hand between them, her fingers slowly skimming over the muscles of Talon's stomach, his chest, letting it finally rest on the side of his neck. The touch wasn't especially light, which Lux certainly appreciated, and it had the desired effect; with a heavy sigh, Talon stretched the arm he'd had around Lux, slipping it beneath the blanket that had bunched around Lux's shoulder so that it laid flat against her back and his fingers were free to tangle in her hair. A shiver ran down Lux's spine, followed immediately by a fresh trail of heated skin, a sensation that was almost entirely lost to her when Talon tucked his chin to press a sleepy, somewhat uncoordinated kiss to her parted lips. He breathed deeply, correcting the position of his lips and using the arm he had laid across Lux's back to gently press her chest completely to his, making Lux's skin flush all over again and causing her fingers to curl just a little bit tighter against his neck. Evidently amused, Talon smiled against Lux's mouth, leaning back so that he had the room to speak.

"Good morning."

Lux bit her lip, deciding on if she should reply or kiss him again instead, but had the question answered for her when Talon leaned away and out of easy reach, although the grip she had on him, and he on her, kept him from moving too far- for which she was certainly grateful. He propped his head up on his free hand, grinning at Lux with that lopsided smile of his, and for once Lux smirked right back and bigger.

"Morning."

His eyes flicked over her face, tracing over every inch of heated skin, and although it would have normally, the gaze didn't make her feel vulnerable or like he was searching her face for some answer that eluded him; instead, she felt like he was simply appreciating her and that she was drowning in his gold stare, and she'd never been so eager to lose herself in someone before.

And she might have been imagining it, because oh did she want to, but she'd bet anything that she wasn't the only one who'd forgotten to swim.

As if she'd actually been drowning, Lux's breath hitched in her throat the longer she met Talon's eye, and she had the weirdest desire to speak, like there was something in that moment that she had an obligation to voice. She even opened her mouth, but no words came to mind and the moment passed in silence. Curious, Talon tilted his head in his hand, raising a brow at the somewhat frustrated expression on Lux's face.

"What?"

She gave it a moment, but she still didn't have the words to describe the urgency, almost, that gripped her, so she shook her head.

"Nothing."

He pursed his lips against a bigger smile, but seemed content with letting the matter lie; instead, he turned to rest flat on his back, still keeping his arm tight around Lux so that she was prompted to move with him. She crossed her arms over his chest, allowing him to slide his hands up the slope of her back to tangle in her hair, bringing her face to his with a sigh that washed over her skin. Lux closed her eyes and melted into the circle of his arms, for the most part allowing him to guide the kiss, letting her pliant lips mold to his. Her heart hammered away when he entangled his fingers further in her hair, but he held the tight grip for only a moment before releasing the gold strands and shifting his hands to the sides of her face, gently tilting her head up and to the side. Sensing his motive, Lux leaned forward, her chest sliding against Talon's in such a way that left her breathless, and she was strangely thankful that Talon moved his lips from hers to her freshly exposed neck. Lux tried not to make it completely obvious that she was struggling to right her breathing, but the endeavor became futile when his mouth mapped a line of kisses starting at the corner of her jaw and that trailed down her neck. Talon alternated between the soft press of lips against her skin and the gentle graze of teeth, and the repeated sensation kept Lux's breath from returning and had flutters of anticipation twisting her stomach.

Talon stopped the short journey at the hollow of Lux's throat, although Lux felt that he should be progressing, not pausing.

"Are you staying?" he murmured, and the heat of his breath sent another pleasant shiver across her skin.

It took Lux several long seconds to gather the wherewithal to form a response; once her muddied thoughts were collected enough to process what Talon had actually said, she desperately wanted to reply with a simple yes and not think anything beyond that, but somewhere past the haze of desire that clouded her decision making, Lux knew she couldn't.

"I can't."

She knew she'd overslept and that she'd ducked out a little too early from the previous night's festivities, and the likelihood that someone had already been to her apartment to check on her was pretty high. If she wanted to avoid being caught, she'd have to head back sooner rather than later.

"But you want to."

It was so far beyond unfair the way he said it; low voice husky, lips still ghosting across her skin, her body entirely on fire where it touched his. It was coercion, a duress she could not refuse.

So she didn't.

"Yes."

Lux opened her eyes, and even if she couldn't see it, she could feel Talon's smug expression the same way she could feel his hands still cupping her face, and it was evident to the both of them that despite her initial refusal to stay, Lux wasn't going anywhere; with this realization in mind, Talon relinquished his position in favor of hers, and Lux was all too eager to be accommodating. He easily settled into a comfortable position between her legs, which she promptly wrapped around his waist, but paused right after; now poised a few scarce inches above her, it was simple for Lux's eyes to lock onto Talon's, and it was easy for her to completely let go of any need she had to be elsewhere. She again felt that there was something direly important that she needed to say on the tip of her tongue, but words ceased to exist beneath the weight of Talon's level stare, and Lux would rather not spend the time she had with him searching for words she might never find.

Talon didn't seemed burdened with that strange desire to put a voice to whatever emotion burned beneath Lux's skin, for which she was grateful; he moved with her instead, slow but building, and it had to have been only seconds before Lux forgot everything that wasn't him, his skin, the pleasure he so willingly gave to her and took in return.

What a wonderful thing drowning was.

* * *

Loath as she was to admit it, Lux actually couldn't prolong her stay any more than she had already; it was well into the morning when she'd decided the first time that she needed to be on her way, and when she actually got around to doing it, the morning hours were close to fading. It was no easy thing to disentangle herself from Talon, and she begrudgingly uncurled from his side and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to spot where she'd left her clothes on the floor the night before while rubbing away a slight stiffness in one of her shoulders.

It seemed at first, to Lux, that Talon was intent on making her departure especially difficult; he slowly ran a hand up her back, the pads of his fingers rough against her skin, and Lux let herself momentarily enjoy the touch until Talon's hand paused, and he deliberately stroked his thumb over one of the knotted scars on her back.

With the course her morning had taken, Lux had practically forgotten the deformity, but she stiffened as she thought of what Talon was looking at now; a column of scars on either side of her spine, two perfect rows each containing twenty even lines of ropy scars. Each slash was about finger sized, both in length and thickness, starting at Lux's shoulder blades and continuing downwards until each of the columns ended at the base of her spine. She knew what Talon was seeing; the scars that looked like horizontal tally marks, each one the exact same size, equidistant, disturbing in their perfect likeness of each other. She knew he had bigger, more grotesque scars marking his own skin, but there was something painful about how deliberate Lux's were, and it was clear that each had been carefully, painstakingly put there with purpose.

Lux leaned ever so slightly forward, enough for Talon to get the hint and drop his hand, but she could still hear the question that he did not voice.

 _What happened to you?_

The silence that followed was expectant from Talon's end, and very, very careful on Lux's; she didn't want to recount the story right then, not entirely, but she wanted to see how much she _could_ say. It was incredible progress for her to allow the scars to be seen at all, and in a moment of boldness, she forced herself to speak.

"I… lied. About never being caught."

She tried to say more, tried to add more sense to the explanation, but Lux's voice failed her.

The truncated confession offered a very incomplete view of the whole story, but she knew it would be enough for Talon to piece together enough of what'd happened for himself. The words hung heavy between them, and although Lux did wait, Talon knew she had nothing more to say and did not answer her, nor did he move. Lux went on to collecting her clothes, feeling the gold she craved so much following her every move until she'd left the bedroom.

Certain she was out of sight, Lux took a steadying breath that resonated deep in her chest, dispelling the weakness that gripped her knees and threatened to make her hands shake. The momentary discomfort gave way to other, more pleasant things that Lux would rather focus on; things like wonderfully sore muscles and the flush that refused to leave her skin, and Lux allowed herself a small smile as she padded through the living room to the small kitchen.

The scars didn't matter here- not in Talon's apartment, where lines ceased to exist and pasts were forgotten in favor of what dominated the present.

Content with her morning and still reluctant to start her day, Lux helped herself to a glass of water (moving none too quickly), smiling around her cup when she spotted Talon's discarded cloak on the floor. Following that same line of sight, Lux's eye fell on something that wasn't in the room before: a letter, prim and sealed, perfectly centered beneath the mail slot in the door. Lux walked over, fingers closing around the thick paper and recognizing the seal stamped onto the outside. It was from the summoners, that much was clear, and she flipped it over as she walked back to the kitchen counter, eyes tracing over the neat and flowing script that spelled out Talon's name. She slowly took a seat at the counter, setting down her glass and darting a glance at the bedroom.

She probably shouldn't open it.

Lux had hardly even thought the words before she slid a finger under the sealed flap of the envelope, carefully tearing the paper and extracting the letter that was most definitely not meant for her. It was an announcement, written in that same neat penmanship that Talon's name was, proclaiming the addition of quite a few new champions to the League. Lux skimmed the paper, sufficiently interested, raising a brow at both the rather high number of additions and a few of the names she saw scrawled on the page. She was engrossed enough that she paid Talon no attention when he joined her, at least not until he was standing behind her shoulder and snatching the letter out of her hands.

"Are you reading my mail?"

Lux turned in her seat, grinning at Talon while he read the letter for himself. She intended for her answer to be quick and witty, but Talon hadn't bothered to put a shirt on, and her reply was a tad bit delayed and tight lipped.

"I would never."

He spared her a withering glance before turning back to the missive, but he didn't seem as interested in the content as she was; a couple seconds went by before he handed the letter back to her, and took the unoccupied seat across the counter.

"You read the bottom, right?"

Lux wasn't sure since he'd finished with it so fast, but he nodded, somewhat tiredly running a hand over his face. With all the new additions to the League, the Institute was holding a rather impromptu match that afternoon, and Talon was one of the lucky few that had gotten drafted in. Lucky being a rather objective word, considering he looked none too excited about it.

Lux took another small sip of her water, trailing her gaze over the letter once more before placing it on the table between them. Talon watched her face, more interested in her expression than he had been in the letter.

"Do you know the names?"

They were all Ionian, and not incredibly well-known to those who didn't live in the far-off country; Lux, however, had spent a bit of time in Ionia and with renowned people like the Duchess and Captain Lito, and recognized the majority of the people that had allied themselves with the League.

"Vaguely- they're not very involved with the elders of Ionia, and I've only ever met one of them."

Lux's finger trailed over Shen's name, along with his assigned title, recalling the brief time years ago that Karma had introduced her to the almost scarily stoic ninja. Ionia's ninjas were, as Lux said, more involved with themselves and their personal dealings than things like the elder's politics, and Lux unfortunately knew very little about them. But she did know that the last name on the list, Zed, was someone that Karma both hated and feared, and the remaining three (Akali, Kennen, and Syndra) all tugged at her memory in a frustrating sort of way when she couldn't quite recall why they were so familiar. She'd have to ask Karma, if she got the chance.

"Sounds exciting," Talon remarked dryly, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. She supposed that put in the same situation, she wouldn't be too happy about being drafted for the match either.

"I should go check if I got a letter."

Lux sounded disappointed, even to herself, but Talon only smirked.

"You didn't. Mid's taken."

Seconds ago, Talon could care less about being in the match, but he wasn't one to miss an opportunity to gloat. Lux rolled her eyes, a little displeased at how difficult it was to keep them focused on his infuriating expression and not his very bare chest.

"I can still support."

The response only made him grin wider, and Talon leaned across the table, dangerously close to a rather put-out Lux.

"Are you going to support me, Crownguard?"

Lux pressed her lips into a very thin line that did nothing to hide the heat blossoming across her cheeks, but she was quick to snap back this time.

"More like watch the Ionians wipe that infuriating grin off your face."

Unfortunately, her retort did nothing to erase said smile, which Lux decided she'd allow the longer it was focused on her. She really couldn't stay any longer though, because she had to be getting back to her apartment anyway, and if she had been put in the match then she didn't have a lot of time to get something to eat before it started.

She hopped off the chair, walking to Talon's side of the counter and placing what she'd initially intended to be a quick kiss on his lips; she really couldn't help laying a palm on his chest (lower than was probably necessary) and Talon wasn't helping any when he grabbed a handful of her sweater and tugged her closer, and she eagerly ran her tongue over his bottom lip when she tasted fresh mint on his breath.

It was an interesting, but rather ineffective, goodbye.

Very reluctantly she pulled away and freed herself from Talon's grip, making sure to grab her scarf off the counter and shooting Talon a quick, breathy goodbye.

"Good luck with your match."

And before she could be further enticed to stay, Lux left the apartment and all it offered behind.

* * *

Lux had never been more on edge about leaving Talon's apartment than she was that morning.

She was wearing the same clothes as she was last night (because it wasn't like she could borrow something from Talon) which everyone at the Garden Grill had seen her in, and to make matters worse, she'd left her baton in Quinn's apartment; she desperately wished that she had it with her, because it would be a simple thing to endure her walk of shame while she was invisible.

In lieu of magic, Lux had to resort to being extra careful; she snuck down hallways and peeked around corners, thanking her rather transient luck that no one seemed to be out and about. She made it out of the Noxian wing without seeing anyone, and Lux had relaxed a significant amount by the time she was nearer to the Library and the mess hall than Talon's apartment.

Of course, Lux ran into a bit of a problem the second she let her guard down; she was technically in no man's land, so to speak, so she didn't think that being spotted was really very damning, but it had more to do with the specific person whose path she crossed. She recognized Swain and his hunched form right off, even though they were on opposite ends of a lengthy hallway, and she couldn't help the almost infinitesimal stutter in her step when she caught the glance he darted at her face.

And it wasn't just his chilling gaze, but the piercing glare of that unnatural raven of his, and Lux thought that even Talon had never struck her with a look quite like this before.

In an effort to keep up her façade of nonchalance, Lux kept her walk smooth as she continued down the hallway, reminding herself that this was far from the first time she'd been forced to be around Swain; she'd seen him countless amounts of times in and out of High Command, and under much less favorable circumstances. Besides, she was well out of Noxian territory at this point and there was no reason for Swain to suspect her of doing anything she shouldn't be, much less for him to make the jump to her being with Talon.

Even with that reasoning, Lux's chest felt tight as she passed him in the hallway, the clack of his cane against the tiled floor making her heart thud, and when he was finally beyond her, it took an overwhelming amount of self-control not to let out a gusty sigh of relief. She just kept walking, never pausing and never looking back, until that particular hallway was behind her and she could no longer hear Swain's uneven gait.

And _then_ Lux heaved that relieved sigh.

She felt so ridiculous when she was alone, trying to calm her pounding heart, because Swain had walked past her without a single word or interaction. In fact, after his initial glance at her when she first entered the hallway, he hadn't he even looked at her.

Lux chided herself on her needless paranoia as she crossed into the Demacian wing, wringing her scarf between her hands as she made a beeline for her apartment. She felt much better now that she was close to home and hadn't run into anyone important, and by the time she was fitting her key into the lock of her apartment, Lux had basically forgotten her brief encounter with Swain.

She checked the floor when she was inside, spotting a letter from the summoners that matched the one Talon had received; she picked it up, tossed her scarf onto her kitchen counter, and tore into the expensive paper as she walked slowly to her room.

It had the same announcement she'd seen already, but no summons for the match; she was definitely relieved, even though she'd said to Talon she would have supported, and she certainly didn't mind having the morning to herself instead of being forced to fight the new Ionians.

And her first order of business with her morning free was to take a shower.

She eagerly ditched the letter and stripped away last night's clothes, stepping into a shower that quickly built up to being scalding and scrubbing her skin and her hair with a wash of mandarin-scented bubbles. It was the perfectly peaceful and soothing moment that Lux needed to simply process the course her life had taken in the past day.

It didn't really have to be monumental; figuratively sleeping with Talon had felt like a bit of an eventuality to Lux with the way things had been progressing, but it didn't necessarily change anything. She'd still slipped away when she had to, and Talon was still the same person he was before she'd slept with him. He would consider last night as no big deal, surely.

And Lux told herself the same thing, completely ignoring that it in no way felt true when applied to her.

She cut the water to her shower when her raw skin began to cry for relief, and swaddled a towel beneath her arms as she padded away from her bathroom in search of something to wear. She picked something shapeless and comfortable, as per her usual, returning to the bathroom and giving herself a cursory glance in the mirror before leaving. The benign outfit was in place and Lux was satisfied with it, but she frowned as something dark caught her eye.

The maroon beginnings of a bruise that Lux didn't remember receiving colored the flesh at the base of her neck, and she pursed her lips when she realized her sweater wasn't going to cover it.

It didn't hurt, not even when she prodded it with a finger, but it would be annoying to hide; she made sure to grab her scarf again before she left her apartment, wrapping it loosely around her neck all the while she cursed Talon.

Her second order of business for the day was to get her baton back from Quinn; luckily for Lux, her apartment wasn't very far away from her own. She tucked her wet hair behind her ears and self-consciously adjusted her scarf maybe a hundred times while she walked over, pausing before Quinn's door to adjust the sun-colored fabric once more before she was satisfied. Then Lux knocked, and waited.

It was an unusual amount of time before the knock was answered- enough that Lux was beginning to think that Quinn was out. However, the brunette came to the door with bleary eyes and a yawn, and waved Lux inside without saying anything.

"Did I wake you?"

It definitely appeared that way; Quinn was in rumpled pj's and her hair was an absolute mess, and Valor was nowhere to be seen. Confirming her suspicions, Quinn nodded, and pointed to where Lux's baton was still laying on the couch.

"Yeah, but it's fine. I should be up anyway."

Lux retrieved her baton, not knowing until that moment how much she'd missed having it at her side; she curled her fingers around the cool metal, and turned to raise a brow at her friend.

"Rough night?" she inquired, the barest hint of sarcasm coloring the very real curiosity.

Quinn nodded, leaning against her kitchen counter and stifling another yawn.

"Vi got into a drinking contest with Kat, and that wasn't even the most interesting part of the night. You missed out."

Lux blinked in surprise at that little tidbit of information, but she definitely didn't regret leaving early; besides, Kat had a tendency to throw sharp things when she was drunk, and Lux was a bit relieved that she'd avoided that particular event.

"I'm not sure I agree with you on that one."

Quinn smiled like she wasn't really sure she did either, and changed the subject.

"Do you have plans for today?"

It was an entirely innocent question, but Lux's hand tightened around her baton, and it was a bit tougher than usual for her to keep her face straight.

"Sort of. I was going to get breakfast and go see new match, if I have the time."

Lux put a lot of effort into making it sound like watching the match was a bit of whim, and not really her priority for the day; she'd forgotten her friend had just woken up and didn't know about the new champions until Quinn frowned.

"Match? What match?"

Lux looked back to the door and pointed to the letter that sat on the floor, evidently unnoticed by Quinn. She strode over and tore through it just as Lux had twice already that morning, sleepily rubbing an eye while she skimmed through it. It was funny the way Lux could tell she'd been drafted into the match, because Quinn went from barely awake to darkly frowning at the innocent seeming paper very quickly.

"Of all the rotten luck…" she muttered, tossing the letter on her counter.

Lux offered an apologetic smile, which was all she could really do for her.

"I think that's my cue to be on my way. Good luck!"

Quinn gave a halfhearted wave as Lux let herself out, and when the apartment door was closed behind her, she couldn't help but feel fortunate that Quinn hadn't questioned her at all about her leaving the birthday party early, or why she hadn't come for her baton earlier… or anything else, really. It wasn't like Quinn made a habit of prying, but Lux felt like her friend was letting her off a little bit easy.

Which she appreciated.

There was a bit of a swing in Lux's step as she once again left the Demacian wing, wandering aimlessly at first before she realized that she was actually starving, and that getting something to eat would be a good way to spend the free time she had before the match started. There were more people walking around closer to the mess hall; Lux waved hellos to the Sheriff and a very unhappy and exhausted looking Vi, neither of which could join Lux for breakfast because they were both on their way to actually participate in the match. Lux wished them the same luck she had for Quinn and Talon, and entered the mess hall alone.

There were a few summoners around and a pair of yorldes off to themselves, but no one Lux really recognized; she helped herself to a plate of fruit and a granola bar, finding somewhere alone to sit while she slowly picked through her food.

The match promised to be interesting, that was for sure; Lux was eager to see what kinds of teams there would be, which was difficult to predict considering all of the new champions. If there was one thing Lux was hoping for, it was that Quinn and Talon were on the same side of the rift, because the alternative would definitely not be something that Lux wanted to watch. Actually, Lux was beginning to wonder if she wanted to watch the match at all.

She chewed thoughtfully around a strawberry, deciding that she'd stay until Talon did something embarrassing and that she didn't have to watch anymore after that.

There was a viewing room set aside for League matches that Lux headed for when she was finished eating breakfast, out of the way and more towards parts of the Institute that Lux had yet to explore. The room was set up a lot like a cinema would be; a large screen dominated the back wall of the room, and there were two sets of chairs set up in rows. Lux was a tad bit surprised to find that a lot of the available seating was taken; she quickly scanned the room, deciding to skip over a free chair in between two summoners and one next to Darius in favor of the only other free one next to Karma.

She was sitting in the very back row, next to the door, so Lux didn't have to walk far to pause beside the open seat.

"Do you mind if I sit?"

Karma looked up, seemingly distracted, but gracious as ever.

"Not at all."

Lux took the seat and balanced her baton on her lap, noting that the screen was still dark and that Karma looked uncharacteristically unnerved; she was chewing her lip, and more than once twisted the hem on the side of her skirt between her hands. Lux observed the behavior, wondering if it was acceptable for her to ask about it. They were… acquainted, sort of.

"Are you okay?"

Even though it was soft and tentative, Karma's head snapped up at the sound of Lux's voice, and the look on her face after that was slightly embarrassed.

"Yes, thank you."

She really didn't look okay, but the screen lit up before Lux could further question the issue, and they both turned forward in their seats. The view onscreen was of the forested Rift, lingering first above the blue team and then the red. Lux was relieved to see that, on the blue team, were Quinn and Talon, and she recognized Shen and the two other ninjas that must have been Akali and Kennen. The camera didn't linger on Talon or Quinn like Lux would've wanted, and panned over to the opposite team. There was the Sheriff, there was Vi, and there were the two Ionians that had to have been Syndra and Zed, along with that same purple yordle with the outlandish hat that Lux swore was in every single match.

Lux thought the teams were a bit on the strange side, but it made sense considering that half the champions present were new and didn't have clear, designated roles yet. Everyone chose their lanes and set off, and when the point of view lingered on Talon a bit before the match _really_ started, Lux tried not to make her interest too obvious.

This would actually prove a bit difficult as the game progressed; it seemed that most of the action that would follow was centered around the middle lane, which meant that Syndra and Talon were constantly on the screen. It was a bloody, messy match that had Lux cringing no less than five minutes in, and it wasn't long before she pinpointed why it was that Karma was seemingly so unnerved; she watched with a sharp attention just like Lux did when the mid lane was the focus of the show, and of the two mid laners, it was easy for Lux to deduce who she was watching. She couldn't really fathom what her fascination with Syndra was, but about fifteen minutes into the match Karma stood up and politely excused herself, and Lux didn't miss the sick look on her face that she tried to hide.

It was probably mirrored on her own features, by now.

She watched Talon collect a fair share of kills in his name, but those dark Ionians were brutal; they never gave a life without taking one in return, and Lux was finding it rather difficult to watch both Talon and Quinn constantly being revived from their temporary deaths. It made matters worse that everyone seemed deadly focused that game, and there was not a single misstep of Talon's for Lux to tease him about later.

The game promised to be a lengthy one, although Lux wasn't sure how much more of it she wanted to endure; it was a bit of a relief that sometime later Ezreal joined her to watch the game, taking Karma's vacated seat and looking like he had expected her to be there.

"Hey, Lux," Ezreal greeted, immediately kicking his feet onto the headrest of the chair in front of him.

"Hi."

Ezreal folded his hands behind his head and regarded the screen with a contemplative frown, letting out a low whistle when he saw the score. It had long since dipped into the double digits for both teams, and the game still showed no definitive sign of coming to a close.

"Geez. The Ionians don't mess around, do they?"

Lux shook her head, pursing her lips as Caitlyn fell prey to Akali yet again.

"No they do not."

He was quiet for a minute or so, observing the slaughter, and spoke again without turning.

"I'm a little surprised that you're here, actually. I figured this wasn't really your thing."

He really didn't sound surprised, and Lux opened her mouth to say so, but Ezreal cut her off.

"On second thought," he said, turning to her with the strangest twist to his mouth, "I guess I'm not as surprised now that I know who's actually in the match."

As if to accent his point, the screen panned in on a fight in the blue side's jungle, showing with disturbing clarity Talon pulling his blade from the body of the invading jungler.

"Yes," Lux replied, lips stiff but expression cool and unaffected. "I came to see Quinn."

It was painfully clear that he did not believe her, not for a second; Ezreal sat normally, fresh anger distorting his features in the face of Lux's lie.

"For some reason, I really doubt that."

Lux shrugged, attempting to appear calm even though her hands were painfully tight around her baton and anger swirled sickeningly with the fear in her gut.

"If doubt is all you have, then I suggest you stop insinuating things that aren't true."

She turned back to the screen, grateful that the view was focused on Shen and not someone a little more… sensitive.

Lux could feel Ezreal practically fuming at her side, and she cringed when his voice sounded out, deadly low and scathing.

"So I imagined you kissing the Du Couteau, right? Just like I imagined you leaving with him last night."

Lux actually felt her stomach drop, and at this point it wasn't even self-control that kept her staring at the screen, but more the fact that she'd frozen and didn't think she could move even if she wanted to.

"Yes."

It wasn't convincing, not in the least.

"What exactly are you planning to get out of this, Lux? You can't possibly delude yourself into thinking that murderer cares about someone other than himself. It won't last."

Ezreal's words were knives, cutting through Lux and to fears she didn't even know she had until that exact moment. Her hands twisted around her baton, palms slick, and her throat was painfully tight when she answered.

"I know," she whispered, forgoing the lie. It wasn't going to do her any good when Ezreal had already convinced himself he was right.

"So? Are you just waiting for someone else to find out?"

Lux whipped around in her chair, fixing him with a glare that she hoped was severe enough to perfectly convey her meaning.

" _No one_ is going to find out. This is none of your business, Ezreal."

Fear made her words deadly, and there was an underlying threat to her voice that she'd never directed at any of her friends before. It was clear by the shocked look on Ezreal's face that he didn't anticipate the sudden snap, and it took him a very long second to recover.

"Lux, I'm telling you this because I _care_ about you, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt. Stop seeing him."

Lux knew he cared, could see it in his eyes, and it made that fear in her gut twist in a new, guiltier way; she could only imagine what this looked like to someone who hated Noxus as much as he did. She could only imagine what it would look like to Quinn and Jarvan and everyone else, if they found out.

That was why Ezreal couldn't tell anyone.

Somewhere behind them, the match ended, but neither blonde paid it any attention; Lux couldn't look away from Ezreal, and he couldn't from her, and there was a challenge in their eyes that they were both so painfully determined to win.

"You said it yourself," Lux breathed, voice constricted. "It isn't going to last."

That wasn't what Ezreal wanted to hear, evidently; he wanted a complete agreement, undeniable proof that Lux was going to immediately cut off Talon and never see him again. The inevitable, but eventual, death of the relationship was not what he wanted, and his face bunched up in anger again.

"Does he even know that you've spent the last decade spying on him and his family and all of the people they know?"

Silence greeted the question, and that was all the answer that Ezreal needed.

He seemed to realize that Lux wasn't going to be immediately persuaded to change her mind; he stood, leaving Lux alone in her chair, and turned to spit one last thing at her.

"I'm not going to sit around and wait for him to kill you."

And then he stormed out, amidst a flood of other people leaving the view room.

Lux sat there, stunned, her mind slowly processing the interaction. The fight felt like it must have lasted hours, but she knew it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, and even though Ezreal's words echoed loudly and painfully in her mind, no one around her seemed to notice that the fight had even transpired. Her chest still felt icy and tight and she couldn't pull in a full breath, and every word she recalled cut her with fresh pain.

Ezreal was… right. He was right about _so much._

She knew seeing Talon wasn't going to last. She knew that, if anyone ever found out, it would destroy not only her reputation, but no doubt it would be met with severe backlash from their respective countries. It was a dangerous, selfish thing she was doing, but she did so with the confidence that she would not be caught.

Which was not the case anymore.

What hurt more than that knowledge though, what hurt more than Ezreal's disgust or the fear that she would be revealed as a traitor, was the fact that Ezreal had cut to the heart of Lux's unspoken worries in a matter of seconds.

 _You can't possibly delude yourself into thinking that murderer cares about someone other than himself._

Because she did just that, Lux realized; somewhere, at some point in time while she was confessing her past to him in their training room or falling asleep beneath his arm or kissing him with her heart in her throat, Lux had convinced herself without ever realizing that Talon Du Couteau cared about her.

That, to him, this wasn't just some meaningless fling that he would discard when he no longer felt the need to continue it.

It was stupid, of course. Talon said he was interested in her, but that wasn't the same thing as caring about someone. Lux could tell the difference.

She'd also never expected anything more from him, so it was easy -painfully so- for her to dispel that illusion. If she had wanted someone to care for her, someone to find real meaning with, she would not have chosen a Noxian. It may not be smart of her to be seeing him in the first place, but Lux was smart enough to know what Talon was capable of, and to adjust her expectations accordingly. What Ezreal said hurt so bad because she was no longer able to admit that she didn't care for Talon- but even with that knowledge, nothing changed. It didn't matter if she cared for him, because admitting it didn't mean that the feeling was reciprocated.

It didn't change that, for now, seeing each other was still what Talon and Lux wanted, no matter how much or how little that was.

She still felt raw after the fight, playing Ezreal's words over and over in her mind, but she knew that he wouldn't be the one to give her away; he wouldn't tell Quinn or her brother or any of her superiors because he still cared about what happened to her, whether he wanted to admit or not. He wasn't going to completely upend Lux's life because he didn't approve.

But he wasn't going to be her friend, either.

At least, for now, it was clear he wanted nothing to do with her. It made Lux's heart ache to realize that something she'd never planned on had strained a friendship she'd had for so long, but she also believed that Ezreal wouldn't dismiss her forever, especially considering that her fling with Talon wasn't going to last forever, either.

It didn't make her feel better, exactly, but Lux's initial panic had a much looser grip on her chest, and she breathed a bit easier than she had when Ezreal first showed up.

It was a mess, well and truly, but she was sure that it would sort itself out.

Things like this always did.

* * *

Although not as distraught as before, Lux was definitely in need of comfort after her fight with Ezreal; her first thought, after everything that had happened, was to seek out Quinn or Garen, but she knew they weren't capable of offering the relief she sought. She found herself heading from the view room to where the champions were released after a match, shrouded in the magic of her baton, peering around the corner of an adjacent hallway while she waited impatiently for who she _did_ want to see.

She didn't have to wait long; splitting off from the rest of his team, Talon headed for the hallway Lux knew he would, the one where she waited. She dropped the spell, once again fully visible, and if Talon was surprised to suddenly find her standing in the mouth of the hallway, he did an amazing job of not showing it. With a subtle glance over his shoulder to make sure that no one was following him, he hurried over to Lux with not the most _approving_ look she'd ever seen on his face, and a frown buried beneath the shadow of his hood.

"Should you be here?"

Vaguely Lux's mind registered that she probably shouldn't be, but she paid the thought no mind, nor did she acknowledge the blade still strapped to Talon's arm or anything else, really, as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. The beat of his heart beneath her ear was steady and he smelled like fresh forest air and the tension clinging to her bones melted, falling away completely when he tentatively placed a hand on her hair.

And it didn't feel bad, not right then, to care.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Reviews**_

 _ **iFireLightning- Are you proposing?! Here's the next!**_

 _ **TheMixKage- Thank you ^-^ Will do!**_

 _ **Oceanbourne- Okay I'm feeling entirely lost after all this time, but let's see. I guess what I was trying to convey in chapter 19 is that no one really knows what Swain is up to, or what's important to him. It's scary to the Demacians to think that Swain will leave the League to potentially start another war, and in my mind, Demacia is too proud to let the League fight their war. It's too personal at this point, so they'd leave the League themselves and they would be back to square one. I think everyone is wary of the summoners because they're so powerful and they don't know if they can really trust them yet, since the League is still a very new thing, but they're grateful for the peace that the institute offers. So, war is a maybe, and no one's sure what to think of these super powerful summoners. Not sure if that makes sense, but definitely feel free to ask me more, even though I don't think I've been super helpful so far lol.**_

 _ **As for the bit at the end- that was definitely intentional. I like keeping scenes like that incongruent for the most part, because I think it reads better, but I know not everyone shares that opinion.**_

 _ **WhiteWinterDragon- Ahhh, poor Garen doesn't really get his money's worth from me, but I'm trying. She's definitely learning to enjoy herself more, and Talon is certainly a part of that. Thank you!**_

 _ **Adonna2424- I've been playing The Poro King during free week Ezreal and I swear to you all, that made me SO CLOSE to just killing him off this chapter. It's honestly disgusting how much I hate Ezreal at this point. Ahhh, sorry! Will try to keep updates from being so long. You're welcome, and thank you for the review!**_

 _ **Whirlwind67- ugh no, I loved writing that chapter. Writing them all do normal things is weirdly enjoyable, so you're definitely not alone there.**_

 _ **zZzSapphireBluezZz- Both! It's feedback like yours that reminds me there are things I forgot or need to work on, and I did plan for everyone to get a little more development c:**_

 _ **Okay I just bought Enders game because of you, and I haven't finished it yet, but I can definitely say that when I said cliffhanger before, I didn't mean the kind where it's like… painful. I mean the sort where I kind of set myself up to continue, but it wouldn't be devastating if I didn't. Does that make sense? I'm basically saying don't worry lol the cliffhanger isn't going to be super bad or anything.**_

 _ **Riven in due time c;**_

 _ **Tasskuss24- thanks! Well, Talon pretty much did it in the last chapter. No spoiler! But you will have the answer soon. I will, and thank you tons!**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- Boy will he ever. Conflict is good. Continue to feel conflicted, it gives me strength.**_

 _ **Glaesii- Sorry, for the wait then and the wait now :T Working on these update times! Thank you though c:**_

 _ **Marinette Dupain-Cheng- HE CAN'T, BECAUSE HE HAS TO RUIN EVERYTHING. Honestly it's always a lulu support. Always. I think so too -w-**_

 _ **Thank you thank you! Writing siblings is surprisingly fun. Who would've known?**_

 _ **Guest- Thanks!**_

 _ **GarenKat Fangirl- hello allow me to express my enthusiasm over YOU.**_

 _ **I think it's pretty interesting to write the things that they share and the small things they don't, which really highlights the weird af relationship they have going on. A bit of both, I'd say. He knows she's very secretive around other people, but since he's an orphan who grew up without a family and doesn't even know when his real birthday is, I doubt he's someone who regards birthdays with any importance, you know? I don't think that the General is someone who would celebrate them ridiculously either. Also, people are usually the center of attention on their birthdays, which is definitely not something Talon likes.**_

 _ **I haTE EZREAL so naturally he's going to ruin everything. Rip.**_

 _ **Thank you thank you THANK YOU. I aim to please c; Also Quinn is safe STOP WORRYING**_

 _ **Nic- Hey! Ahh, I wish I could too, but M writing is evidently not my forte. Aww c:**_

 _ **Clawatme- I'm glad you are! Thanks for the review :)**_

 _ **Littlemissbreanne- Thank you! I am definitely trying my best on that one.**_

 _ **Guest- Thanks! I wish it would update, too.**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**A/N: I'm still not 100% sure if this chapter makes sense rofl but I am shoving it in your face anyway.**_

 _ **Happy reading!**_

* * *

 _During the day, the Garden Grill was perfectly deserted._

 _It probably had a lot to do with the fact that the bar didn't open until a certain time, but Swain hardly cared about why the restaurant was empty, and only that it was. There was a table beneath the railing of the bar platform that Swain preferred over the rest, as it was decently far away from any other table and was less likely to be disturbed. He sat there now, not eating or drinking, but every so often taking a piece of bread from the basket in front of him and feeding it to the raven perched on his shoulder._

 _Beatrice wasn't allowed in the restaurant, but no one had had the courage to directly tell him that yet._

 _It was a repetitive, thoughtful motion that was not broken even when the chair opposite from him was dragged aside and taken by Darius's generous form, and even though the General was the one who had summoned him there, he, for no discernable reason, made Darius wait._

 _And Darius did, like he'd never done for anyone before._

 _Eventually Swain did acknowledge that he was there; his gaze moved slowly form observing some undefined point in the distance to emotionlessly studying the troubled face of Darius, and both hands now curled around the handle of his cane._

" _Any news?"_

 _His voice was smooth, like calm water over weathered stones, and the voice his of companion's by comparison was like the rough scrape of gravel._

" _It's just getting worse," Darius muttered, idly scratching the stubble on his right cheek._

 _He'd recently been to Noxus, as per Swain's request, and the news did not bode well; Swain, however, regarded the information with the same countenance as he usually did. Calm. Calculated._

 _He was not worried._

 _Darius could see this; this was not new behavior from the General, not by far, but it had never ceased to make him somewhat uneasy._

" _Do you have a plan?"_

 _It was a silly question._

" _Several," Swain answered, but refused to elaborate beyond that._

 _Plans upon plans years in the making. He didn't have the time to explain them to Darius, nor was Swain at liberty to do so; even the Master Tactician had people to answer to._

 _Darius nodded, accepting the silence although he did not want to, and Swain actually wished he could share something with the man, if nothing other than to reward his unwavering loyalty._

" _We don't have much time."_

 _Swain didn't ask specifics about the terrible state of Noxus, but Darius would bet that he knew even more than himself the dire position the nation was in. War was whispered in the streets and the slums festered, and Swain's absence only added to the growing toxicity. Time was of the essence, something he hoped to convey._

 _Swain just nodded slowly, his thoughts far from those of Darius; instead of a thirsting Noxus, Swain's mind toiled over a girl who fancied herself invisible and one small, forgotten bruise on her neck, and how all of these inconsequential things would not only save Noxus and give them the war they wanted, free of repercussion, but deliver the power that Swain had been promised._

" _Soon, Darius. Soon."_

* * *

There were a couple reasons why Talon and Lux hardly ever spent the night in her apartment.

Intrinsically it was the same as his, but it was a bit too close to the other Demacians for either Lux or Talon to ever really be comfortable there, and Talon had, on more than one occasion, complained to Lux that only having fruit for breakfast was a terrible way to live.

He'd also insinuated that Lux was on track to starve him, although to what end he wouldn't say.

And the biggest issue the pair had with the apartment was that there _always_ seemed to be someone at the door. Whereas Talon's only ever potential visitor was Kat (who wasn't a big fan of knocking anyway, so much as just letting herself in) Lux had family and friends who often liked to stop by on a whim. The visits to Lux's apartment only seemed to be getting more frequent over the last week, since Lux's fight with Ezreal, because she'd been doing her best to avoid him and that had unfortunately translated into her just staying away in general- which resulted in more than one early morning check-in by Quinn.

This was one of those mornings.

Talon and Lux sat at the kitchen island, picking over a very fruity breakfast (sourly, on Talon's part) when a knock interrupted them, stopping a complaint that Talon was midway through voicing and stopping the path Lux had a grape on to her mouth. It was basically routine by now for Talon to give Lux an annoyed roll of his eyes and disappear into her bedroom where he would be safely out of sight, and for Lux to snatch her scarf off the table and wrap it around her neck because the damn bruise, yellowed and fading though it was, was still too visible for Lux to answer the door without it.

It was Quinn, like she'd come to expect; Lux could tell immediately that her friend was… not upset, exactly, but a little more tight-lipped than she usually was. She still smiled when Lux opened the door, eyes warm as ever.

"Hey- I was hoping I'd catch you before you went off to the library or something."

Lux smiled in greeting (even though she couldn't honestly remember the last time she'd been to the library) and leaned against the doorframe.

"What's up?"

Quinn held up a hand, which Lux now realized was enclosed around a letter; she handed it over, and shrugged.

"It came with a letter of my own. It's from home."

From home? Lux eyed the innocent letter like it was venomous now, handling it carefully with the tips of her fingers. She flipped it over, but her name was stamped, actually _stamped_ instead of written, so she had no hope of discerning who it was from before she opened it.

"What did yours say?"

Quinn wasn't technically at liberty to disclose that information if Lux's guess was correct and it was from one of their commanding officers, but they were used to breaking rules of that nature.

"It's an assignment," she said slowly, eyes moving past Lux's and focusing on nothing in particular. "They want me to go back to Demacia in a few days."

Lux frowned at her letter now, wanting very badly to hand it back to Quinn and say thank you, but _no_ thank you. She flipped it between her fingers instead, hating its existence already.

"Are you going to?"

It was a question Lux already knew the answer to; Quinn had never turned down an assignment before, just as Lux never had, and that realization made her stomach twist.

"Yes. I figure it's important, if they're willing to ask us to leave the Institute so soon."

Lux hadn't thought of that, but even now that she did, was still no more inclined to open her own letter than before. Assignments were _always_ important- that's why neither of them ever said no.

"Are you going to open it?" Quinn asked, voice quiet.

Lux pursed her lips, looking at her plainly printed name and thinking of returning to Demacia only to be sent off god knows where on another mission, and shook her head.

"Not right now. I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

Quinn nodded, understanding her reluctance more than probably anyone else would, and waved a goodbye.

"I'll see you."

Lux feebly lifted her hand in the same farewell, and it took her a second to close the door even after Quinn was gone. She lingered in the doorway, unable to look away from the stupid, detached printing of her name, half of her burning to open it, and half her wanting to just plain burn it.

Settling on an acceptable middle ground, Lux tossed it onto her coffee table to be forgotten until a later point in time, trying to dispel some of the discomfort the letter had brought with it while she walked into her bedroom. It helped that Talon was lounged casually across her bed, perfectly at ease, and he quirked a brow when she sat next to him.

"What was that about?"

Lux pulled her knees up, sitting cross-legged and picking at a stray piece of lint on her leggings, and making a quick decision that she wasn't sure was the right one.

"She's just checking in," Lux lied smoothly, and she didn't look up to give him the chance to catch the dishonesty.

Lux was pretty sure of one thing- if Quinn's letter was an assignment, then hers was also, and like she'd reminded herself less than a minute ago, she and Quinn never refused them.

But what if she really, really wanted to this time?

Lux had never felt so strongly about turning away a mission. She had no intention of returning to Demacia months ago, and that was before Talon; the fact that he was in the picture now made her choice almost scarily easy. She felt that, no matter what the letter contained, no matter how dire Demacia considered the assignment, Lux was finally going to say no.

And if she was, then what was the point of telling Talon at all?

It was against the law, technically, and Lux wasn't sure what kind of situation she was more eager to avoid: an awkward conversation about her leaving the Institute, or one where Talon had no problem telling her to go.

Considering she was almost equally fearful of both, Lux resorted to lying.

She realized she was still staring intently downwards when Talon tugged the edge of her scarf, just like he had on her birthday, and she was finally coaxed into looking up.

"Still cold?"

There was a smirk on his face that was strangely effective at improving Lux's mood, and she balled up the scarf in her hand, using that smirk as a target.

"You know, if I _wanted_ everyone to know you've been kissing my neck, I would just tell them myself."

Talon gave a quiet laugh as he set the scarf aside, and folded both arms across his chest.

"That's a lot less fun for me."

And he looked so smug about that stupid bruise and the fact that it was him that put it there, and in a rather swift movement, Lux swung a leg over his waist and settled carefully into a position on his hips, keeping his arms folded with her hands and leaning low enough for her to whisper against his throat.

"I should give you a bruise of your own," she murmured, and the threat in her voice was very much real.

Talon was apparently not a person who responded well to threats; not the tightest of holds to begin with, Talon easily broke the grip Lux had on his arms, slipping an arm around her waist and quickly rolling over so that their positions were reversed. He pinned Lux's wrists to the bed with more force than she had, and even when she tugged against the hold he did not release it.

"From all the way down there?"

His smirk was back, baiting Lux into a challenge she could not win. He was right; he stayed too careful a distance away from her, and even if Lux strained the limits of his hold, she wouldn't be able to reach his neck again.

She regarded his smug smile with a cool stare (even though her face was edging towards uncomfortably hot), and with a bit of effort, placed a very genuine looking pout on her lips.

"Fine," she sighed, brows knitting in a frown. "You win."

Lux was surprised he bought the surrender; she was sure the grin threatening to curve her lips or her thudding heart would give her away, but Talon dipped low to steal a winning kiss, letting his lips linger on hers for only short second before starting to lean away.

And as he did, Lux caught his bottom lip between her teeth, keeping the bite gentle but forcing Talon to drag the bitten lip away. Lux was free to grin that wicked smile now, her satisfaction far surpassing his when he'd leaned far away enough for her to see the dark glint in his eye.

"That makes us even," Lux announced, noting that Talon in no way looked like he felt the same. He ran his tongue over the abused lip, eyeing Lux like he wanted to do much more than simply bite her in return.

"I'm not sure I agree."

There was no amusement in his voice and he was still sizing her up, and Lux was suddenly very much more aware of her trapped position than before. Her muscles felt tense in a weird way, halfway torn between anticipation and trepidation, neither of which seemed to be winning out. Lux gave the grip on one of her wrists a firm tug, surprised that Talon released it but also grateful; she leaned forward with her new freedom, grabbing a handful of Talon's shirt and tugging him lower so that she could place a soft, very apologetic kiss on his bottom lip.

"Even," she repeated, and although he did not return the new smile on Lux's face, Talon seemed a lot more amenable than before.

"Right."

He released her other hand though, which she interpreted as him agreeing, moving over on the bed so that she could sit up again. Lux took a deep, steadying breath in the quiet that followed, waiting for her heart to settle into a more normal rhythm while she thought of her next move.

On a regular day, they would probably stay in the apartment and find ways to pass the time and Talon would leave at lunch and dinner to find real food while Lux did the same, but today she felt a bit like deviating from their usual; she contributed her sudden urge to venture away from the apartment to the fact that she wasn't ready to face her letter yet (which she had managed to forget in the last few minutes), and she poked Talon's ribs as she broached the subject.

"We should do something today. Outside of the apartment, I mean."

She took it as a good sign that he didn't immediately refuse; he didn't seem enthusiastic, but indifference wasn't a no, either. Talon just tilted his head slightly to the side, eyeing Lux like he couldn't fathom why in the world she'd want to do something like that.

"Like?"

Lux shrugged, awkwardly tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as she quickly made something up.

"We could… see some of the rest of the Institute. Explore."

She shrugged her shoulders again as if to say _why not?,_ and Talon was quick to point out a flaw in the plan.

"That's the kind of thing that gets people caught, Lux."

Assuming that he was only saying no (although he technically hadn't yet) because he didn't want to be seen, Lux perked right up, her gloating smile immediately putting a wary look on Talon's face.

"Yes, but we're not most people. Especially me, since invisibility is sort of my forte."

Lux knew she'd pretty much assured his compliance then, because he'd asked about how the light magic before and she refused to tell him anything about it, and she had no doubt that he was still drawn to the finer nuances of her power. It just made her smug smile grow wider when he let out a sigh, although Lux felt like he was hiding a smile of his own now.

"Fine, Crownguard. Lead the way."

* * *

After getting the reluctant acceptance from Talon that she was seeking, Lux promptly skipped to her living room and plucked her baton off the couch, twirling the familiar weight in her hand as Talon warily followed. He was clearly still interested in the magic, that much was clear from the way he looked at the baton, but he raised a brow when Lux stuck her hand out.

"Contact makes it a lot easier to work the magic on more than one person," she explained, and Talon rolled his eyes.

"A likely explanation," he said sarcastically, but he clasped her hand anyway and Lux immediately threaded her fingers through his.

The magic would work if they weren't touching, but it _was_ actually a lot easier if they were, the reason for which was still frustratingly unknown to Lux; there was also the fact that her magic worked better when she was in a good mood, and, well… Lux liked holding Talon's hand.

With her fingers firmly secured in his, Lux tossed the baton over her head, concentrating in an easily familiar way when it flipped end over end in the air and fell back into her awaiting palm. To their eyes there was no change, but Lux felt that thrum beneath her skin that meant the magic was working, and she grinned at the doubt on Talon's face.

"That's it?"

Proudly, she nodded.

"That's it."

He rubbed the hand not covering hers over his jaw, taking in that bright smile and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes, and couldn't help but feel the slightest bit cheated; who would have known that light magic was that outwardly simple?

"Let's be on our way then, shall we?"

And there was a laugh in Lux's voice that was rarely so clear and happy, and Talon was all too compliant when she led him out of the door. She didn't have a specific destination in mind (which was kind of the basis of the venture), but Lux headed in the direction of the view room, knowing for certain that that was the area of the Institute she'd least explored. The whole slinking around invisible thing seemed a little wasted because the rest of the champions were, as usual, not walking around the halls, but it was weirdly exciting for Lux to use her magic again just for herself, and it was an excuse she probably didn't need to keep Talon close to her side.

It was the excuse _he_ needed to observe her; it wasn't like Lux was always a depressing person or anything, but she was unusually focused on where she was taking them and there was still a smile tugging at her lips and although half of Talon liked the change, liked it a _lot,_ he couldn't help but wonder if she was forcing it for some reason.

He waited to say anything, until he was actually starting to think that he was lost, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Why the sudden need for adventure?"

She gave him a distracted glance, briefly pausing to consider a fork in a hallway they were approaching, and shrugged after pulling him left.

"Don't you get bored sometimes?"

She was back to solely focusing on where she was going, and Talon couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit suspicious that she wasn't meeting his eye.

"Not when I'm with you, no."

Another glance, another smile, but her cheeks were tinged a light shade of pink this time, the kind of blush that Talon liked so much because it made the dusting of freckles on her face stand out.

He wondered when he first noticed that.

"It's just nice to get out sometimes."

He could agree with that, but a weird uncertainty tugged at him still, although he did attempt to ignore it.

Lux picked a seemingly random room to stop in first; there was nothing special about the door she paused in front of except for that it was unlocked, and after checking to make sure that no one was around, she pulled it open and led them both inside. Lux flicked her baton and dropped the spell when the door was closed behind them, and when they stepped into the room the lights illuminated what they'd been missing. It reminded Lux a lot of the auditorium all the champions had met in when they first came to the Institute, only on a much smaller scale; there was an empty stage that Lux could almost imagine Vessaria speaking proudly on, and the front row of seats were only a few measly feet away from it. Lux dropped Talon's hand because he was hesitating and she wasn't, trailing her fingers on the chairs she passed and settling into one in the front row, letting her head fall back on the headrest and taking in the miniscule room. Talon took the seat by her side, but opted to stay quiet.

Again Lux wondered what the intended purpose for the room was; presentations by the summoners, maybe? Covert meetings? Set aside for champions who wanted to put on a very small-scale play?

"I have a question," Talon said slowly, interrupting her musing.

Lux let her head lazily loll to the side, noting that his expression was a bit more reserved than usual.

"What kind of question?"

His eyes quickly searched her face, roaming whatever expression was there, and she assumed he found what he was looking for to continue.

"How did you get caught?"

It was a question that normally set Lux right on edge. For the first time since it'd come up between them, though, she didn't immediately feel like she needed to be on the defensive or like she couldn't breathe right and her hands weren't shaking, and although she did nervously chew on her lip, she really considered who it was that was asking her.

He'd seen the scars already- it wasn't like Lux was making much of an effort to keep the whole thing a secret anymore.

Talon just waited patiently, not pressing her for an answer, and she doubted he would even if she refused to talk. Lux wished she knew what it was about him (particularly in that moment) that made her suddenly so willing to open up; maybe he seemed more open without his hood to shroud his features (although dark hair and an ever-present 5 o'clock shadow felt eerily similar) or maybe Lux had really just come to feel more comfortable beneath the weight of his gold stare than she realized, but she pulled her knees up to her chest and kept her gaze level with his as she thought of where to begin.

"I don't know," she began truthfully, folding her arms atop her knees and delicately placing her chin on them.

Honestly, she didn't; judging by Talon's frown, he thought she was just avoiding the question, but he let her gather her thoughts and continue.

"I told you that after the war ended, a lot of my assignments were to spy on nobles- high priority people of interest for the Demacian government. I was eighteen, and the man I was put in charge of watching at the time was a Noxian ambassador to Zaun. Everyone was still pretty wary of Zaun and the biochemical weapons they'd used, so it made sense to me why I was put there. The last thing anyone wanted was a repeat of the atrocities committed in Ionia."

Talon's face had grown increasingly twisted, and she knew that the evident disgust on his face was a sentiment shared by nearly all Noxians, whether they served in the war or not; the actions of Zaun in Ionia were cowardly, underhanded, and displayed just how little regard the sick city-state had for actual strength or honor. There was no evidence of Noxus seeking the help of Zaun after the war, but Demacians and Ionians alike wanted to make very, very sure.

Which is why Lux and people like her were placed in such households.

She took a deep breath, pleased to find that her breathing was still steady, but curling her fingers a bit tighter around her knees.

"Desrosiers was his name."

It tasted sour on her tongue, like a nasty word Lux should be scolded for saying, and she saw a flicker of familiarity in Talon's eye; Desrosiers used to be an important part of High Command until he wasn't, but his disappearance was just like countless other nobles in Noxus that seemed to be losing their heads at an increasingly rapid rate, and no one thought much of it- something Lux knew because her life depended on the fact that everyone thought he was just another causality of a falling regime. Lux, though, Lux could remember him perfectly; neat, prim, very particular about where he kept his things and how clean they were. He used to have an inky beard that was always trimmed to the same perfect shape, and wonderfully tailored suits that Lux would iron. He never smiled, he hardly ever spoke, and he had these hazel eyes that never quite looked _at_ you.

Blank. Lux remembered them being unsettlingly blank.

"I really don't know how he knew I was a spy," she exhaled, and even now a confusion she'd done her best to bury picked her, fresh and infuriating. In Desrosiers' household Lux was his assistant, taking on the persona of a weary, aging widow; she did errands, cooked meals, did anything and everything he asked. Never for one second did she imagine that he knew everything she was, was just a façade; not for one _moment_ did Lux believe her cover was blown.

"I know that I went to sleep one night, and didn't wake up where I was supposed to."

Lux had a room of her own in the sprawling but empty mansion the man lived in, and she'd gone to bed at the same time and woke up at the same time, day in and day out for weeks. It was routine. It was supposed to be safe.

And Lux was wrong.

She couldn't meet Talon's eye for this part; she looked somewhere beyond him, eyes unseeing, entirely focused on a memory that was all too sharp.

"He had this room in the basement… Concrete floors, metal table, and the usual Noxian setup with every knife he'd ever owned lined up all neat on the walls."

So clearly she could remember it; how the basement was bone-chillingly cold and smelled so strongly of antiseptic that her nose burned, and god the straps on the table were so tight, digging into her arms and wrists and her neck and she couldn't see, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak to scream or beg or anything.

"I was gagged at first, but he had a lot of questions he wanted answered. What was my name, where did I come from, who did I work for, what did I know…"

Every question she imagined in his voice, that smooth murmur that sounded like it was better suited to a patient father gently chiding the aberrant behavior of his favorite child, rather than someone who liked to very painfully and slowly torture other people.

Lux's eyes flicked back to Talon's, just the briefest moment of comforting ochre, before focusing on the wall again. One hand moved to her shoulder, not quite reaching the first scar there, but almost.

"I didn't say anything, obviously- I was trained too well. But every question I didn't answer was just one more cut, and how could anyone ever prepare you for that?"

Every scar stung, distinct and clear, and Lux found that she needed another deep breath to regain her voice.

"He was a patient person, but… patience runs thin for everyone."

Lux had forty of Desrosiers' questions carved into her skin before he'd had enough, before he decided that he didn't need her to speak, he just needed her gone. The only good spy was a dead spy, after all.

"I didn't have my baton and I know he meant it when he said he was going to kill me, and I heard him leaving, I think, I didn't know where he was going, and I just…"

Lux never did magic without her baton after receiving it, but she did just that once; her memory of the moment was patchy, ironically dark considering what happened, but even with her eyes covered there was an absolutely blinding flash of light, and the quiet hum Lux felt beneath her skin when she was altering her appearance or going invisible turned into a raging, burning inferno that hurt like nothing else ever had.

"It was like everything was on fire. That's why I use my baton- using my magic without it, especially if I'm scared, is catastrophic. I'm just as likely to kill myself as I am to save myself."

Lux's voice went a little breathy at the end and her heart felt so close to faltering in her chest, but she _did it._ She'd never told anyone that story before. She was, in the strangest way, proud of herself, and she turned to Talon, unsteady and full of memories that haunted her, but satisfied to know that'd she faced them.

Just as she faced him, grim faced and awaiting a judgement that he did not give. He drank in everything, all the pain in her eyes and the fear in the lines in her face and she wondered if she made a little more sense to him now; it was abundantly clear why Lux was so fearful of blades and Noxians and the terrible things they did. It made it so clear why she resented Demacia, who'd put her in that position and trained her to sacrifice her safety, her dignity, her _life,_ just so that they may keep their secrets another day.

This person Lux was… made sense.

Never had Lux looked at someone before that wasn't Quinn and felt such understanding; and surely, to Talon, Lux's story was not uniquely grotesque- there was no one else she knew as well as him that Lux could say that about. It was difficult for her to pinpoint exactly what emotions were narrowing his eyes and pursing his lips, but she saw no pity in the hard lines of his face, and for that, Lux was grateful.

That mutual understanding stretched over several seconds, edging on terse but managing to be strangely comfortable, and what Lux wanted most right then was to wrap herself in Talon's embrace like she had after her fight with Ezreal, to lose herself in the specific comfort that was him.

But instead of uncurling painfully tight muscles and reaching for Talon, Lux finished the story.

"I don't know how long I blacked out for, but when I woke up, my bindings were burned away and Desrosiers was too. There was nothing left- not a single shred of him."

She searched the room when she could, after she could force herself to walk, but Desrosiers was well and truly gone. Burned away, transported forever- Lux wasn't sure how unrestrained light magic worked, and she didn't care. He was gone, and she was free.

"If I told my commanding officers back home what really happened, I would have been stripped of every rank and every achievement they allowed me to claim, and I don't even know what they would have done with me after. While I… recovered, I forged evidence that made it look like Desrosiers left in a hurry- cash withdrawals, train tickets… They were perfectly believable in Demacia, and in Noxus too, because his disappearance was just one of many and was never looked into."

She shrugged, just the tiniest rise and fall of her shoulders, but Talon's eyes didn't shift the slightest from hers.

"I went back to Demacia when I was healed and showed them the evidence they wanted to see, and I was sent right back into the home of another noble. I told you I thought about leaving Demacia, but… I really did want to help. Desrosiers was not the most dangerous person in Noxus, no matter what had happened to me, and I didn't think my work was finished."

Lux's voice had an edge, like she was reminding herself of all the reasons she subjected herself to even more years of service after being tortured. It didn't matter now, of course; those years were gone. She'd already given them away.

And right then, she realized she'd give no more.

Whatever that letter in her apartment said didn't matter. She wouldn't go back. Not ever.

It was like Talon could hear her thoughts; he leaned forward the moment she declared to herself that she'd give Demacia nothing else, eyes positively burning, and Lux's fingers curled so tight around her knees that it actually hurt.

And it occurred to her, while she was drowning in a golden silence, that Lux had gone far, far beyond what he'd asked of her. She'd given him everything, every sordid little detail of an event she'd shoved far into darkness, and all to this Noxian that she wasn't even sure genuinely cared for her.

That was what Ezreal said. He didn't care- Talon did what he did for himself.

That didn't sound true at all, especially not considering how terribly earnest his gaze was now, but Lux made a painfully forced effort to brush the whole thing off, an embarrassed tremble to her voice.

"I'm sorry, that was…"

She shook her head, loosening all her stiff limbs and shaking out the painful tension in her hands.

"That was a little much."

She stood, grabbing her baton off the floor and letting out a shallow, breathy laugh that was almost convincing. He'd stood while she was getting her baton, and Lux tilted her head up, offering a weak smile.

"I guess I couldn't answer your question."

He reached out, and at first Lux thought it was to grab her hand so that they could leave; instead, he lifted his hand to cup her chin, rough fingers perfectly gentle on her skin.

"What a mess, Crownguard."

And he didn't say it in a bad way, more endearing than anything, and Lux's smile was a bit less forced as she agreed.

"What a mess."

* * *

It was a mutual, unspoken agreement to pretend that what happened in the auditorium, didn't.

Talon didn't question a single detail of the story and Lux offered no more of it, and that was that. They left the room without another word, hand in hand, and with no intention of ever returning.

Lux wished she hadn't shared so much, but she couldn't say she completely regretted it either; it felt therapeutic in the strangest way to just _tell_ someone, even if it was Talon and if even she had basically no idea what it meant to him, if anything.

And that was… okay.

Lux was just okay with this- with forgetting the auditorium and going back to the easy rhythm of before. She led Talon through hallways they'd never been through, occasionally poking their heads into a room (unfinished cafeteria, unfurnished apartments, empty storage rooms) and sometimes stopping to quickly drift through one, but it was one of the last rooms they found that they chose to linger in. At that point they had done a lot more walking than talking, and Lux felt almost exactly the same as she did when they left her apartment that morning.

She felt normal- and that felt nice.

Where they had stopped looked exactly like the training room they'd spent weeks' worth of mornings in before (so Lux wasn't sure why she felt the need to explore further), the only discernible difference being the very noticeable lack of weaponry on the walls. Lux supposed that since the League contained so few champions at the moment it didn't really need another training room, but it still made the space feel empty in an abandoned sort of way, and Lux was reluctant to just leave it.

"How big do you think the League is going to get?"

It was a lazy attempt at conversation considering everything she'd said less than an hour ago, but it was something Lux had thought on before; the Institute was so large, especially taking into consideration how much Lux had yet to see of the building, and she wondered what kind of population the summoners were expecting. She walked further into the room, eyes trailing over the empty hooks on the walls and the bare table pushed up to the far wall. She didn't turn to see, but she imagined that Talon was shrugging his shoulders.

"Very."

She actually had to turn and give him an exasperated eye roll after a response like that, which did nothing to phase his look of indifference.

Having made her way to the corner of the room now, Lux trailed her fingers over the surface of the table, and then hopped up to sit on it while she pursed her lips thoughtfully, carefully laying her baton on the floor below.

"You know," she said slowly, crossing her ankles and keeping her voice casual, "it's going to get a lot harder to sneak around when there are more champions."

Lux's second attempt to goad him into a conversation was met with the same apathy as the first, much to her sudden annoyance; Talon stopped moving a pace or two from the table, and for a few seconds did nothing but cross his arms and fix her with a somewhat contemplative stare.

"This coming from the person who can go invisible whenever she wants."

He did have a point, and Lux had to admit that she and Talon were probably some of the most suited people for sneaking around. She just wasn't satisfied with the answer for some reason (she refused to admit that it had something to do with earlier), and her hands gripped the edge of the table as she leaned forward.

"Well that takes care of me, but what about you?"

He didn't rise to her bait; he shrugged one shoulder, but there was a glint to his eye that made Lux think his calm demeanor was a little forced.

"I'll figure it out."

Lux wasn't sure why she was so frustrated with the clipped answer, only that she was; she leveled a glare at Talon, unsatisfied, but finally evoking some sort of reaction from him. He stepped over to the table, deliberately slow, stopping only when his legs brushed her knees, and Lux suddenly regretted the position she was put in; he towered over her, and the sudden closeness prompted Lux to let go of the table and lean backwards, bracing herself on her hands behind her.

"I can't help but feel like it won't be a problem, though," he murmured, his voice lower and decidedly less detached than seconds ago.

He placed both hands where Lux had had hers before, effectively pinning her in place. His arms on either side of her, his face above hers… there was nowhere for Lux to move, even if she wanted to.

And she certainly did not.

She felt very frozen in place, but her breath was getting embarrassingly ragged, and as close as Talon was, Lux had a hard time keeping her eyes off his lips. That particular endeavor became impossible when he spoke again, and it was strange how even though she watched the formation of every word, their meanings ceased to register.

"You want me here."

Quiet, confident. Yes, she did want him… here. Lux's already limited coherency was strained even more when Talon's right hand moved from the table to her knee, gently pushing it to the side until Lux got the hint and uncrossed her ankles, allowing for Talon to move even closer than before and into a much more… accessible position. He didn't stop there; while her breath caught in her throat, Talon's hand trailed ever so slowly up her thigh, his palm coming to rest on her hip and his thumb on the waistband of her leggings. Warmth spread in every spot he touched her, radiating from his closeness and curling pleasantly beneath Lux's skin, and every muscle of hers felt coiled and tight. He lowered his face, cheek brushing her own, and breathed an unheard question against her skin, causing a shiver to race down her spine.

"Don't you?"

Lux wasn't sure he actually wanted an answer. His lips moved to her neck, kissing a line of distractions across her skin, but that wasn't what had Lux's heart thudding in her chest and her breath coming in a wild gasp; Talon's hand slipped beneath the barrier of Lux's clothing, his fingers easily finding every spot that made Lux forget to breathe and forget to think, and although Lux filled with painful anticipation for more, the touch stayed teasing. Adjusting, promising, coaxing Lux to arch forward and flushing her with tantalizing warmth, but teasing all the same.

He apparently _was_ waiting for some kind of answer; he didn't give Lux the satisfaction she ached for, not when she placed a hand on his neck, nails digging into his skin, not when she let her chin drop to his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut against a yearning that burned along every inch of her skin. She thought that would be enough for him; Lux thought that Talon seeing her obvious need for a release only he could give her would satisfy him, but he only tempted her further, and his exploring touch quickly went from teasing to torturous.

It was maddening in a way Lux had no patience for, and she pleaded with him in a husky voice, chest tight, grip tighter.

" _Please."_

There was a dark chuckle that in no way helped any of the aches Lux felt, and Talon lifted his unoccupied hand, hooking a finger under her chin and gently guiding it away from his shoulder. Lux let him lead her face in the hopes that this was the compliance he was seeking, and she opened her eyes when he was done, slowly rolling her hips forward in a meager attempt at loosening just one little bit of the tension coiling her body. A breath shuddered over Lux's lips as her eyes met Talon's, and whatever momentary relief she'd found was washed away beneath the fevered stare he leveled at her.

She had no choice but to continue look in his eyes, so she knew with absolute certainty that Talon was well aware of the near-painful desire that had her all tied up in knots and her breath gasping over her teeth and her hand still clawing in a desperate sort of way at his skin. He was enjoying it, that much was made obvious by the devious gleam in his gold gaze, and he wouldn't let her enjoy it too until he got what he wanted.

"Don't you?" he repeated.

Lux didn't remember the context of the question, exactly, and she didn't care.

"Yes," she breathed, and the strain in her voice had Talon's lips curving into a wicked smile.

"I thought so."

And it was Talon who inhaled a sharp breath now, bringing Lux's face to his in a fierce kiss that held more passion than any other they'd ever shared, and his hand was no longer teasing but giving, and there was a moan in Lux's throat as all that pent up desire and anticipation gave way to a pleasure that had her positively melting. Talon's lips never left hers and the hand beneath her chin slid to her cheek to keep a steady grip there, and he didn't stop any of the movement that made Lux writhe against him, not even when she dragged her nails down his neck to curl desperately around the collar of his shirt.

At her peak, Lux leaned back onto the hand that had long-since curled into a fist on the table, letting out a cry that was all too breathy and quickly silenced by the return of Talon's lips, and this kiss conveyed a hunger that matched even her own. There was the crush of his mouth and the tangle of his tongue with hers and their heated breaths mingled and neither moan was discernible from the other, and Lux finally regained some of her lost clarity when Talon moved both of his hands to her hips, tugging her leggings down and entirely out of his way.

Hands still unsteady, Lux returned the favor, dealing with the momentary nuisance of his zipper before she'd accomplished her goal and Talon pulled her forward, hips on hers, lips on hers, and suddenly Lux wasn't the only one who was crying out her satisfaction.

With every grind of Talon's hips, every groan of her name, every time her fingers pulled incessantly at him for more, Lux was reminded of just how badly she wanted him there with her, and she couldn't imagine why she ever hesitated to say so.

But now that she had, oh it was a wonderful sort of thing to be with him, to wrap her legs around his waist and run her hands along the defined muscles of his stomach, his chest, to feel him shudder underneath her fingers and to hear him whisper her name in such a wistful, reverent way.

Lux would not have changed a single thing, even if she could.

When they'd gasped through the last of their pleasure and they leaned together in a spent satisfaction, Lux returned her hands to the sides of Talon's face, her grip loose but enough to guide him into a sweeter kiss, one gentle and careful and brief. His forehead came to rest against hers when they parted, and Lux couldn't help but smile, couldn't help but breathe a laugh against Talon's lips, her most carefree one all day.

"Ah, Lux…"

And there was a grin in his voice, of that she was certain, and Lux felt like there should have been so much for her to say in that moment, like there were words to perfectly describe every emotion that pounded through her heart and gave the color to her flushed cheeks and the curve to her lips. It was just the tiniest bit of uncertainty from too many worries that kept them from her reach, however, so Lux said nothing, although she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't the only one struggling to give a voice to something without a name.

Wishful thinking, perhaps.

The small hiccup wasn't nearly enough to take away from the moment, and nothing could pull the smile from Lux's face. It was only reluctantly that they separated, pulling askew clothing back into place and brushing through tangled strands of hair with their fingers, several times during which Lux clearly caught gold eyes following her movement. She slid off the table on unsteady legs, righting herself and smoothing the front of her shirt and finally giving Talon the once over he'd been giving her for the last minute. There was a flush to his face that Lux felt proud of, strangely, but he seemed to be back to his usual self, and Lux offered a wistful smile.

A smile that turned slightly apologetic when her eyes followed a few dark red lines across his collarbone, and she lifted a hand to gently press her fingertips to the furrows that she'd unknowingly left in his skin.

"I guess I owe you one this time," she said, biting her lip against a wider grin.

Apparently not bothered in the slightest, Talon only gave the typical roll of his eyes, and gently tugged the front of Lux's shirt.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Neither of them really seemed to want to move from their positions, but Lux didn't especially like the prospect of staying in the empty training room for any extended amount of time, and it would be time for them to eat and to pick an apartment to stay in soon, anyway. She let her hand slide off his skin, a little slowly, perhaps, ducking to collect her baton off the floor and then leading Talon out of the room.

She really had no words for the kind of day she'd been having, tumultuous and wonderful as it turning out to be, and no matter what she'd said in the auditorium, it paled in comparison to how she ended the day, and Lux clasped Talon's hand feeling lighter than she had in months.

And then, with a familiar turn of her wrist, the assassin and the spy disappeared.

* * *

Their little day trip was definitely finished after that.

Lux had a wonderful sense of direction so it was easy for them to find their way back to her apartment, and the whole time she couldn't decide how to feel; embarrassed at her over-confession, elated at their stop in the training room, or worried that there was really no denying how terribly involved she was getting with the assassin. It seemed like every time she cautioned herself against doing just that, she forgot to actually _be_ cautious the second he looked at her, touched her, whispered her name. It really wasn't helping that she was having a tough time convincing herself that this… involvement, was only one sided.

It was a confusing mix of emotions, so Lux settled for simply elated, choosing to shove aside everything less pleasant for later.

There was no complaint from Talon this time about eating dinner with Lux (probably because he wanted to leave about as much as Lux wanted him to) and when it was late and they both agreed they were plenty exhausted, they retired to Lux's bed.

And Lux knew with absolute certainty that she had it bad, because it was all too easy, too natural, for them to fit perfectly together, for Talon to wrap Lux in arms that offered more comfort than she'd ever felt, for Lux to breathe it all in and to feel truly, utterly safe.

That must have been the reason for what followed.

Because for once, Lux admitted her progressive loss of control when it came to Talon and did not feel that in any way that it was a bad thing, that she was actually happier for it, and so the universe said _'No Lux, not today,'_.

And sometime in the middle of the night, Lux pried herself from the sleeping warmth of Talon, padding to the kitchen to get water (because she felt no other pressing reason to be up at all), flicked on a floor lamp for light, and paused with her hand on the switch.

One stupid letter on the coffee table, sealed and unfeelingly printed with her name.

She'd already made a promise to herself that she would refuse it, no matter what it said. So, really, she should not have walked over, she should not have ripped it open, she should not have gripped that stupid, stupid letter in her shaking hands at all.

She should have stayed in bed.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Reviews- I'm sorry if I missed yours (they're not showing up again, oh joy) and I'll get to it next chapter if I see I did.**_

 _ **Guest- I missed you guys too c:**_

 _ **Lux Du Couteau- Thank you! Honestly at this point I think it would just be super strange if he wasn't nice to her? It's been a few months, and they've shared an awful lot already. I have a painful need for fluff so I could see your point there, but there is definitely foreshadowing- it's subtle, but it gets wayyy more blatant this chapter and after. Teemo's been here the whole time, he's just invisible :)**_

 _ **Guest- I feel that sentence on a spiritual level. Thankyoulovelyguestiloveyoutoo**_

 _ **Nanimok- Awww, I'm glad to hear it! You're welcome! I'll see what I can do about angst c;**_

 _ **Glaesii- Thank you! Okay it's not just me noticing this, right? There are SO MANY Lux/something fics being updated right now. Ah, music to my ears. If only I could make everyone hate Ezreal c;**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- You guys definitely do. I don't know if I've mentioned before, but on days that I'm like… especially depressed and can't write or anything, I read a lot of the super nice reviews you guys leave and it definitely helps. So thank you ;-; What… blow up? Honestly, I would NEVER.**_

 _ **Blames the sky- Oh, wow :o As a COMPLETELY unbiased Lux player here, I definitely think that's a great idea! Thank you!**_

 _ **iFireLightning- I happily accept. Thank you! Oh god not poor Ez, he deserves it all. I will do my absolute best c;**_

 _ **Forgotton Halogen- I feel like the personality I want Lux to have is hard to nail, but this review made me feel much better, so thank you! She definitely has so much to think about and very little experience dealing with this sort of thing, so poor Lux is very insecure sometimes :x**_


	23. Chapter 23

The world had a sick sense of humor- of that Lux was certain.

Or maybe Lux just had extraordinarily bad luck- she'd never blamed any unfortunate thing that had happened to her on bad luck before (because honestly, what kind of baseless cop-out was that) but she was seriously starting to question that assumption. She was also sure she only felt that way because she'd hardly slept at all for the past three days, and this fourth promised to be no different.

She'd basically given up trying at this point; she just sat in bed until Talon fell asleep, and then she'd slink out from under his arm and the blanket and step as quietly as a trained spy was capable of to her living room, where she'd stashed that god-forsaken letter under the left couch cushion.

And she would pull it out, flick on a light, and just stare.

The first thing Lux realized, the first time she opened it, was why her name was stamped on the back; the actual letter was written in the small, neat script that belonged to Maddick, and if she'd seen the letter signed by his hand initially, she never would have opened it- Maddick apparently thought the same thing. The second thing Lux realized is that it was unusually short; no fluff beginning asking how she was doing and what the Institute was like, just straight to business. Lux was also right when she assumed that the letter would be an assignment, just as Quinn's was, but god did she ever wish she was wrong.

Her eyes skipped to the paragraph in the middle, so used to reading it over and over again that she could recite it word for word from memory.

" _We've still been keeping an eye on Noxus, and there are a lot of things that we're looking into right now. The one that I'm most concerned with is that recently, High Command has announced that they're offering amnesty to any deserters of the Noxian army still living in Ionia if they willingly return to service. Not only has this announcement thrown half the country into outrage, but we can't help but wonder why they would suddenly reach out to deserters- although from the looks of things, they have their eye on specific people. We managed to pull some names, and I want you to go to Ionia and see if these people are even alive. Most of the names are currently listed as Killed in Action and we're still not sure why Noxus would reach out to people that they assume are dead, but if there's a chance they aren't, we need to know and we need to know before they're a threat."_

And the paragraph below that- a list of names that was smaller than Lux expected, of missing people that Demacia and Noxus presumed dead. Soldiers, Captains, strategists…

Commanders.

One Commander, actually. One Commander with no last name and one big sword, who'd gone to Ionia in the name of the country she loved and never returned.

Lux traced a finger over Riven's name, just like she did every night for half the week, and bit her lip so hard she tasted copper.

Sick, sick humor.

Any normal, decent person would have immediately shown the letter to the one other person that needed to see it just as badly as Lux did- the person still sleeping in her bed, completely unaware that Lux was sitting in the dark and chewing her lip off because there was a chance that _Riven_ of all people was alive.

A small, small chance.

Maddick's tone in the letter was enough to convince Lux that she wasn't; he clearly didn't believe anyone on that list was alive, and he was assuming that Noxus was just reaching out in the desperate hope that they were. If Noxus actually believed that Riven and other people of equal importance were still hiding in Ionia, they would have made examples of them years ago when the war ended- because they had, with several deserters who weren't careful enough to stay hidden.

And there was also the fact that Fury Company, which Riven had been the Commander of, was the one that had perished in Coeur Valley, the sad result of unintentional friendly fire and the use of Zaun's sick machines. Lux had read the reports of the accident; the valley was an especially terrible place to be because it was cut deep in the earth and impossible to climb out of, as well as being narrow, and you had to travel straight through it to get out. The geography being such meant that with the introduction of the biological weapons that spread fast and killed faster, Fury Company had nowhere to go. They were stuck in that valley, and not a single one of them was fast enough to escape Zaun's weapon tailored to murder the running. They had all died, every single one of them.

Riven was dead.

And Lux told herself that, over and over, because she'd _read_ the report of the messy disaster and the bodies that littered the valley and the fact that it took _years_ to make it safe for passage again. Not a single person from Fury Company had ever resurfaced after the war, and they were all highly trained and brutally efficient people who were probably some of the best bets to survive it.

But they were unprepared, and Zaun was cruel.

So Lux was convinced that Riven's name being on the list was arbitrary; sure, if she was Noxus she would wish beyond anything that Riven was alive, but wishing didn't make the devastation that happened in Ionia any less horrible. Wishing didn't bring the dead back.

She was so, so sure.

And as sure as she was, she still sat there, rereading lines she'd memorized and clutching the letter that she swore to herself she was going to throw away. It was because Lux knew she shouldn't be sitting there, hiding the letter from Talon. Even if Riven was dead, he should know about this… shouldn't he?

Lux didn't have to tell him because the letter was hers and Talon technically had no right to it, but that didn't erase the fact that she knew Riven was important to him and that Talon would want to know that Lux was being asked to look for her. But did she really want to give him the hope, painfully slim as it was, that Noxus hoped she was alive? Did she want to inflict that same hope on him when Lux was certain that it was pointless? She would only be hurting him. If Lux told Talon that Riven's name was on the list, it would only bring back the pain of losing her, and it would be made so much worse because she knew that he would tell her to go, and she'd have to tell him the same thing she'd been telling herself- that Riven was dead. And if he didn't believe her, what if there was a chance that he went to Ionia himself? What if he got angry with Lux for not wanting to go? What if he didn't want to know about it at all, and all Lux telling him about the letter accomplished was angering him?

So many - too many - what if's.

Lux promised herself the other day that she wouldn't give any more of her life in service to Demacia than she had already; the last thing she would do was immediately break that promise to look for someone that wasn't even alive. It would hurt Talon- it would hurt her.

Even with her mind made up, her body refused to move, and she continued to sit on the couch and stare at all of the words that Maddick had written until they blended together and she couldn't even read them anymore.

She really, really needed to sleep.

Maybe it was the fact that she was so tired it hurt or maybe it was that she'd finally made up her mind, but Lux's guilt eased enough, for the moment, that she was able to stuff the letter back under the couch cushion and return to her room. She wasn't as careful as she usually was; she roused Talon from sleep, but he said nothing as he lifted his arm and let Lux squirm beneath it, and she curled to his chest and squeezed her tired, tired eyes shut and thought that if she suddenly believed that she was exceptionally unlucky, then she was also definitely lucky to have Talon, no matter how long that was. She couldn't knowingly hurt him, not now.

And that was why, the second she was alone, Lux burned the letter.

* * *

Lux slumped over a steaming cup of coffee the following evening, aware of the enticing smell filling her nose but still being unable to convince herself to drink it. She cradled her head in one palm, bleary eyes watching the ripples the spoon in her other hand was making in the dark surface of the coffee. Her sleeve was dangerously close to getting wet (Talon's sleeve technically, since the shirt wasn't hers) but Lux was too tired to care.

Her eyes itched to dart towards the couch, even though she knew the letter wasn't there anymore, and Lux forced herself to continue to stare at the coffee she would not drink.

Lux's mind was made up- had been for hours. She was going to pretend that the letter didn't exist because all the potential it had to do was make both her and Talon very, very unhappy. And something else had occurred to Lux, while she watched Maddick's fateful letter burn; if by some grace of some unnamed god Riven _was_ alive, then she would know that it was safe for her to return to Noxus, and if she did, then Katarina and Talon would find out. There was no reason for Lux to involve herself, or to give hope when it wasn't hers to give.

Or when she was sure that such hope didn't exist.

Still, though, guilt settled heavy and unwanted in her stomach, making it impossible for her to get more than a few hours of strained sleep. It made everything so much worse that she couldn't go to Talon for comfort, like she was used to doing now; she couldn't sleep next to him, smile at him, couldn't say a single word without being constantly reminded of what she was keeping from him. Even convinced that she was doing the right thing, Lux felt terrible.

And she felt terrible, _again,_ for being relieved when he left her apartment for dinner.

It was the strangest thing to wish he was there and being grateful that he wasn't; those two conflicting emotions, along with the guilt, made Lux feel like she was going to snap at any moment, and she dropped her spoon with a twist to her mouth and buried her face in her hands.

It would be great if for once she could just be completely, utterly selfish and not give a damn about how anyone else felt.

But it wasn't just anyone else- it was Talon. Anyone else and Lux would have been able to entirely convince herself that it really was the better thing to save him the disappointment, and to keep from bringing up Riven unnecessarily. It didn't help that Lux was out of her depth when it came to what was and wasn't acceptable to share in relationships, and it certainly didn't help that she wasn't even sure that's what Talon considered them to be in. She just didn't _know._

Lux didn't know what to do.

She ran her hands over her face and her fingers through her hair, but that did nothing to wipe away the weariness that collected beneath her eyes; she dropped her hands to the tabletop and let her fingers curl around the coffee she still couldn't drink, scowling at the dark liquid like it had all of the answers she was looking for and refused to share them.

She was actually starting to get mad at coffee now.

Content with being irrational, Lux took the cup and dumped it down the sink, feeling a weird sense of satisfaction as she watched it disappear down the drain. That satisfaction waned the longer she stood there, staring at the empty sink, her fingers curling around the edge of the counter until the skin on the backs of her knuckles turned white.

As much as she wished it was, it wasn't the coffee that was making her feel awful.

After staring petulantly at her hands for a moment or two, Lux decided that she wasn't really coming to an easy decision on her own, as much as she'd tried to convince herself that she had, and without Talon to talk to her options were limited. Her first thought was Quinn; of course her best friend would do everything she could to help Lux with whatever problem she had, but Lux knew that there was no way she could ask Quinn for the advice she needed without making her incredibly suspicious. With Ezreal still not acknowledging her existence, that really only left Lux with one last person to turn to.

Mind made up now, Lux walked over to the coffee table, finding the torn letter she still had from the summoners and a pen, scrawling a quick note on the back of it and snatching her baton off the couch.

 _Went to see Garen- be back soon._

Talon would probably get back to the apartment before she did, since Lux didn't know how long she would be gone and he'd already been absent for near an hour; Lux flicked off the lights in her apartment and left, and as she headed in the direction of Garen's apartment, she felt a different twinge of guilt. She'd stopped going to see Garen after her birthday, and she was not proud of the fact that she was breaking that pattern now only because she needed someone to talk to.

Although, knowing how genuinely good of a person Garen was, he wouldn't even mind- a thought that only served to make Lux feel worse about the whole thing.

Since she was going to feel awful either way, Lux continued to the next hallway over, stopping outside of Garen's apartment and, before the nerve failed her, raising a hand to knock on the door. She was relieved when it opened, and it made Lux feel just the tiniest bit better to see the smile Garen gave her when he saw who it was.

"Hey, sunshine!" Garen greeted with his usual enthusiasm, although Lux didn't feel sunny in the slightest.

Still, she gave the best smile she could in return, and Garen stepped away from the door to let her inside.

Lux took a few steps into the apartment and lingered by the kitchen, for a moment distracted by how much homier Garen's apartment looked than her own; it was just a few small things (pictures on the coffee table, a blanket on the couch, his jacket strung over the back of one of the kitchen chairs) but they all came together in such a way that made his apartment feel lived in, which strangely made Lux's throat feel tight.

"Have you eaten yet? I can get you something."

She returned her focus to Garen, who was looking at her with the tiniest bit of concern now; Lux didn't actually think she could even stomach anything right then, and that coupled with the fact that the she didn't want to impose on Garen for too long had her shaking her head.

"I'm not hungry, but thank you."

He didn't look like he believed her, but he didn't press the issue; Garen motioned to the couch, prompting Lux to sit while he took a seat of his own in the armchair. He folded his hands in his lap, smiling expectantly and waiting for Lux to begin. Making sure to give her lip a thorough bite first, Lux took a deep breath and carefully broached the subject, hands wringing circles around her baton.

"I need your advice," she said slowly, voice unsure.

Garen raised a brow like he was surprised that was what Lux was there for, of all things.

"Advice about what?"

This is where things promised to get tricky; Lux let out a tiny sigh, comforted only by the fact that Garen really did look like he wanted to help, and that she doubted he would be the type of person to press her for too many details.

"I have this… friend," she hedged, words halting and wary. "I know something that I think might be… really important for them to know. But I know for sure that if I tell them, it'll hurt them."

There was a pause. "A lot," Lux added.

Garen's face had knitted into a frown as Lux went on, although whether it was because he was confused or thinking, Lux couldn't tell. It was a few long, drawn out seconds of tense silence while Lux waited for him to respond, and she made a conscious effort the whole time not anxiously gnaw at her poor lip again.

"I guess… it's hard to tell, but you have to ask yourself- would it hurt them more to know whatever it is you're keeping from them, or to know _that_ you're keeping it from them?"

It… hadn't actually occurred to Lux that way; she'd just assumed that if she decided not to tell Talon about the letter, he'd never find out- but what if, for arguments sake, he did? Would he be more hurt at the reminder of Riven and her death and this flimsy hope that someone thought she was alive, or that Lux had lied to him about it?

It was clear, painfully so, what the answer was, and fresh guilt washed through her. Garen gave her a sad sort of half-smile, it being quite clear that Lux had made the wrong decision.

"Is everything okay, Lux?"

She nodded, even if things didn't feel that way; she could only imagine how angry Talon was going to be, although she knew that it was her fault for lying in the first place. Despite the trepidation she felt at facing him, Lux did feel the tiniest bit better because she didn't have to continue the lie, either. She gave Garen her most convincing smile, wishing that she didn't have to keep him in the dark as much as she did.

"Everything is fine."

* * *

"I knew there was a reason I don't spend time with you."

Talon offered Kat a very smug smile as he stole yet another fry from her plate, stuffing it in his mouth before she could try to snatch it away. Her lip curled, an expression that made Talon feel very proud of his theft.

"Because you're slow?"

Kat very unsubtly moved her plate out of easy reach, glaring as he chewed.

"Because you're _annoying,_ " she clarified, looking like she was just short of sticking her tongue out.

"That makes two of us."

That sour look stayed on her face as long as she could keep it there, but even in the face of her momentary irritation, Kat couldn't help but smile a little as she helped herself to one of _her_ fries, covering it in a healthy amount of ketchup as she eyed the packed floor of the Garden Grill. It was still relatively early in the night, even though she and Talon were pretty much done with their own dinner, and almost all of the tables were filled. It provided a very pleasant hum to the background, and stolen fries aside, Kat was rather enjoying herself- and Talon's company, despite what she said to the contrary. Their silence was companionable as Kat picked her way through her remaining fries and Talon took the occasional sip from the beer he was cradling in his hands, but not for the first time, she noticed something that was beginning to infringe on their night out.

"Blondie is giving you some serious side-eye," she announced, taking a swig of her own beer when Talon looked up.

"What?"

He lifted his head, swiveling in his chair to face the direction Kat nodded at with her chin, evidently not being concerned with being conspicuous. Sure enough, he met Ezreal's blatant glare, although when he realized that Talon had looked up, he quickly glanced away. No one at Ezreal's table seemed to notice, and Talon turned back to Kat with a shrug. He hardly thought that was worth mentioning- he and Kat were easily the most disliked people in the room, and a glare or two was to be expected.

Kat traced a finger around the rim of her bottle, and Talon noticed the slight purse to her lips that suggested she was about to say something she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

Which, by extension, made Talon wary.

"How's that going, by the way? The other blonde, I mean."

Kat coughed like the forcibly polite words were sticking in her throat, and Talon raised a brow; he could safely say that that is not what he expected to hear.

"Fine," he answered curtly, wondering where the sudden interest had come from.

Kat busied herself with another fry, swirling it through a sticky glob of ketchup on her plate, but hesitated before sticking it in her mouth.

"Are you sure?"

Talon tapped a finger on the side of the bottle in his hand, eyes slightly narrowing; this was unusually pushy, even for Kat.

"I'm sure."

It wasn't like he thought Kat was being sarcastic or anything (which was a first) but he felt… weird, discussing Lux so casually with her. Didn't Kat disapprove? Why was this suddenly acceptable dinner conversation?

"You don't _sound_ sure," she pressed.

Talon tried to remember the last time he and Kat talked about something so normal - _how's your relationship going? -_ but nothing came to mind, and he eyed Kat suspiciously.

"I'm trying to be nice," she said by way of explanation. Like it was uncomfortable enough without Talon making it difficult.

"We're fine," he repeated, just as sure as he was before.

Talon was actually leaning towards the thought that he and Lux were more than fine, but that was really not something he felt inclined to share with Kat; she was nosey enough as it was without him giving her a reason to be. Fortunately, she didn't force the issue, and instead lifted her glass.

"I'll drink to that."

As if she needed the excuse.

Talon followed her example though, tilting his head back and downing the last of his beer. He set it back on the table with a clink, making sure that Kat was basically finished with her food before pushing his chair back from the table.

"I'm headed out. Night."

Kat didn't seem surprised, and pointed her last fry almost accusingly at him.

"Off to see blondie?" she teased.

"Something like that," he answered, a smile threatening to curve his lips.

He stood and gave a parting wave of his hand, then threaded his way through the haphazard layout of tables and out of the restaurant. He was a bit distracted when he stepped outside (thinking more of where he was going instead of where he was) but not enough that he missed someone following him out; the door didn't close when it was supposed to and there were a few hesitant steps on the path behind him, and when Talon stopped walking, so did they. He turned around with a twist to his mouth, entirely certain he knew who it was and that the next few minutes promised to be painfully annoying.

His assumption proved correct; Ezreal stood in front of the doors to the Garden Grill, silhouetted by the bright lights of the restaurant. His shoulders were hunched against the cold and his hands were balled at his sides, but even with the awkward lighting, Talon could see the anger distorting his features.

He was going to guess that it didn't have only to do with him simply being a Noxian.

"You're a poison," he spit, and Talon had to hand it to him- that wasn't an insult he'd heard directed at himself before. "She's only going to end up hurt or dead and you couldn't care less."

Not that Talon enjoyed being yelled at by someone who was in no position to do so (or by someone that was, for that matter), but he immediately had his guard up simply because Ezreal was wrong; he _did_ care about what happened to Lux, whether the Pilty thought he did or not.

Talon wasn't going to hurt Lux, and he wasn't going to stand there and be lectured by an angry child, either. He turned around without bothering to dignify that accusation with a response, satisfied that he was going back to Lux no matter how angry Ezreal got, but the blonde shouted something after him that actually had Talon jerking to a standstill.

"She's been lying to you this whole time!"

He should have just assumed that Ezreal was lying himself in an effort to anger him, that nothing he was saying was true, but Talon couldn't stop himself from turning around. Seeing the uncertainty on his face made Ezreal smile, almost, and everything he said was darkly triumphant and especially nasty.

"She still hasn't told you, has she? About her deployments to Noxus?"

Talon's uneasy silence was all the answer Ezreal needed.

"Do you really think she's never spied on your family, or do you just not care about that either?"

In a quick flash of movement Talon had Ezreal pinned to the door, his forearm pressed roughly against his chest. He had no reason to believe anything Ezreal said, not a single word, but not only had the Pilty insinuated that Lux was a liar, he'd also dragged Talon's family into it. Ignoring a few insidious inklings of doubt, Talon pressed harder, and the pain that flashed across Ezreal's face almost made him want to smile. And he might have, if his temper wasn't so especially short right then.

"Explain."

And oh, did Ezreal have a lot to say.

* * *

Lux rushed back to her apartment after she said a very grateful thank you to Garen, determined now to do what she realized was the right thing.

She was breathless in a strange, uncomfortable way when she pulled open the door to her apartment, but she was still relieved to see that the lights were on and that Talon was there, not facing her, at first, but home. Good- she was too nervous to wait.

She took a deep breath, intending to just immediately come clean, but Talon turned before she could even exhale, and any word she'd started to voice died on her tongue.

He was livid. Absolutely livid.

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Strangely quiet, his voice, but burning with an anger that Lux had heard from him only once before. Not even bothering to wonder how he'd found out about the letter, Lux regained her voice, words coming out in a jumbled rush.

"I was going to tell you _now._ I know I should have told you about the assignment as soon as I got the letter, but there was no way for me to know if Riven was actually alive and I didn't want to-"

Lux remembered the time in Noxus that Talon had unknowingly tried to kill her, and how unbelievably furious he was back then; the murderous look that crossed his face now matched it, overshadowed it, and Lux was suddenly filled with a dread that made every inch of her skin ice cold. It scared Lux so deeply that not one other word crossed her lips, and not a single thought popped into her mind.

" _What_ assignment?" he hissed, voice furiously acerbic.

The words were sharper than any blade he or anyone else had ever owned, and Lux was too shocked by his anger to entirely realize the depth of the mistake she'd just made.

He was waiting for an answer, but Lux didn't know how to speak.

"You've been lying to me about spying on my family. I don't have the patience for any more of your lies, Lux!"

His voice was gaining in volume the more he spoke, the more he absolutely _seethed_ at Lux, and he stepped closer with a finger jabbed in her direction.

"Talk. _Now._ "

And what choice did she have? There was nothing Lux could do, nothing she could say, to level the fury he directed at her, because she deserved it. No matter how he knew what he did, it didn't change the fact that he was right.

Lux was a liar.

"I got a letter," she whispered, mouth so dry she didn't know how she managed it. "I was asked to look for potential Noxian survivors in Ionia."

She was nothing beneath the weight of his glare, small and inconsequential, and suddenly his proximity made her nervous. It made her next words almost terrifying and impossible to voice.

"Riven's name was on the list."

He stepped back like he'd been struck, the anger giving way, just briefly, to shock; she could only imagine what he was thinking, of what a terrible, terrible thing it was to not only be presented with the fact that Lux had been lying to him all this time about her deployment in his home, but that she'd lied to him about a letter that hinted at Riven being alive.

The betrayal on his face after that hurt Lux more than his anger ever could.

"I was going to tell you," she repeated, but so quietly she wasn't even sure Talon heard.

He turned away before Lux could catch the expression twisting his features now, running both of his hands over his face before letting out a short, humorless laugh.

"For some reason, I really doubt that."

It was her immediate reaction to defend herself, because Lux had come to the apartment with every intention of doing just that, but Talon was facing her again and he lifted a hand to stop whatever she was about to say.

"And in Noxus? Who were you lying about being there?"

As difficult for it was for Lux to form coherent thoughts right then, she still couldn't help but wonder how he knew so much; it was only hours ago that he was here, in this apartment, laughing and smiling when everything was normal. How could things have changed this badly? How was it possible for Talon, the Talon she cared for so much, to be this angry?

Because Lux was a _liar._

It didn't seem to matter to him that Lux had forgotten how to breathe; the fact that her hands were shaking so bad she could hardly keep a grip on her baton, that her knees were so weak she half expected to collapse any second, didn't matter to him. The time for Talon's patience and understanding had come and gone, and all he had left for Lux was cold, cold anger.

She was starting to realize (with a painfully sick feeling) that this wasn't something Talon was going to accept. Talon had only ever expected one thing from Lux- her honesty. To find out that she'd been lying about his family, about Riven…

How could she ever expect him to forgive her for that?

It was this realization that had Lux's eyes stinging, and she shook her head.

"It doesn't matter, does it?"

Her vision had gone blurry, but she didn't miss the cold, unfeeling glare that was all Talon had for her now.

"No. It doesn't."

It didn't matter because the name Lux used in Noxus didn't, in any way, change what she'd done.

Lux thought that she'd actually lost the ability to speak after that, but when Talon pushed around her on the way to the door her chest grew painfully tight and she was suddenly gripped with a desperate need to say something, _anything_ , and her hand darted out to grab his arm.

"I lied because I didn't want to hurt you! And because I couldn't lose you, not now!"

Never, ever had Lux admitted that to anyone- _I can't lose you._ She couldn't lose Talon, because she cared too much. Hadn't she just realized that? She cared, she cared, she cared.

But Talon ripped his arm from her grasp and her palm stung and he looked at Lux with her wild gaze, still so desperate to salvage _something,_ and the tears that spilled over her lashes and her heaving chest, and all he had to offer was disgust.

"I don't want to hear it," he snapped.

And those gold eyes, the ones Lux loved, the ones that had offered her so much comfort and understanding even when she was at her most vulnerable, were furious and so painfully foreign to her.

"Ever."

And the next thing Lux knew he was gone and the door was slammed shut, and the spy was left all alone with not even her lies to keep her company.

* * *

It hurt a lot more than Talon thought it would.

He wasn't naïve; finding out that Lux had, at some point, spied on his family, was really not all that surprising to him. He was furious, of course, because he'd trusted Lux- but not surprised.

But this assignment?

How could he have imagined that? How could he have known that confronting Lux about one lie would just lead to an even bigger and infinitely worse one?

He paced angry lines across his apartment, unable to sit still even though he was breathing hard and his chest hurt in the weirdest of ways, like it was getting tighter the more and more he tried to breathe.

 _Riven could be alive._

She could be alive, and Lux was going to keep that from him; he wanted to believe her when she said she was going to tell him, he really did, but he had no trust left to give her. You didn't lie because you cared about people, and you didn't lie to keep them around. If you cared about someone, you trusted them to understand.

And it wasn't just anyone. It was _Riven_.

It was difficult to determine, angry as he was, what hurt more- the fact that Lux (who, at some point, had become more important to him than he realized) had lied about something so monumental, or that there was a chance, even all these years later, that Riven didn't die in Ionia.

It didn't really matter, because no matter how badly Talon tried to understand, it did nothing to tamper his fury or ease that hollow pain in his chest. _Understanding_ made the betrayal no less than it was.

And still, beneath it all, he'd give anything for it not to be Lux.

* * *

Lux had absolutely no idea what time it was when she found herself pounding on Quinn's door.

Minutes, hours- she didn't know. She did know that she'd stopped crying because she couldn't anymore, and she knew that if she sat alone in that empty apartment for another moment, this… _pain,_ these terrible claws of ice constricting her chest, were going to ruin her.

She stood there, doing her best not to think and to remind herself to breathe, no matter how badly it hurt, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat when Quinn answered the door and didn't give one thought to what she could have possibly looked like right then. It was difficult to speak when she felt so sick, but somehow she managed.

"I'm taking the assignment in Demacia."

Bleary eyed and entirely confused, Quinn looked at Lux like she'd lost her mind.

"Okay, we can leave together in a few days then and-"

Lux was already shaking her head, panic making the movement jerky .

"Or we can leave now."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Reviews. Holy FKN moly guys, 199 reviews. Thank you all so much ;-;**_

 _ **Garenkat Fangirl- Only good things, I assure you. Thank you uwu. The relationship has certainly come a lot farther than she thought it would, and even as insecure as she is about how Talon feels about her, she's comfortable enough to share just about anything by now.**_

 _ **You're lucky I give you all the spoilers c; Thank you thank you!**_

 _ **iFireLightning- Oh man, you're telling me. I actually have ALL of Ezreal's skins, because I have a generous friend that I think secretly hates me. How's your heart now tho?**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Oh god if that chapter destroyed you, then I'm so sorry now lol. Don't be heartbroken bb :c thank you!**_

 _ **Guest- Thank you!**_

 _ **Talon- Your name made this review a lot funnier than I think it was supposed to be. Okay, so- "tugging her leggings down and entirely out of his way". Pants off for Lux. "Hands still unsteady, Lux returned the favor". Talon- also pants off now. "Talon pulled her forward, hips on hers". That's me glossing over something a bit more graphic, but, to answer your question, this was my attempt at a sex scene. Pls, I never do these don't judge me.**_

 _ **AlphaClab- Thank you! And I am happy to hear that. I really hate actually playing against Tryndamere, but (and don't hate me here) I like that ship *-* Granted I've read very, very little of it, but I can easily understand why you hate him.**_

 _ **Wintterzz- Thank you! And gosh I swear I get so many people that say they binge read this fic at ridiculous hours of the morning, I am so sorry.**_

 _ **Thank you tons! I've always reaaaally liked Lux myself, ever since I started playing this soul sucking game, and it always bothered me the way Lux was presented. Her character kind of just seemed like a joke based on her laugh, and ugh. I was super excited when I started getting into the old lore and read her judgement, so it means a lot to be complimented on how I write her :D Also holy moly, I can't believe you compared me to Tahimi. He is indeed an extraordinarily wonderful writer, and ach. Thank you ;-; (And between you and me, I've asked him how to pronounce his name, and he doesn't even know anymore.)**_

 _ **I'm in agreement with you there! He's really similar to writing Zed from my experience, but also strangely more difficult. I think with Zed a lot of the time it's pretty clear how he'd react to certain things, since he's less emotional (not the best word) than Talon is, and I find it hard to convincingly balance Talon's personality sometimes. I tried to fit in Talon's perspective as much as I could, but this story was initially written from Lux's point of view completely, and it's kind of hard ;-; I'm glad you pointed it out though, because that's one of the things I've been trying to fix. Hopefully in next couple of chapters that'll show.**_

 _ **Thanks so much!**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- You're right, I am a dirty dirty liar. I DID DO IT. IT'S NUKE TIME, BABY.**_

 _ **WhiteWinterDragon- Thanks so much! Ah, I enjoy the fluff and conversations too, but I also love angst. Thank you for the review, it meant a lot!**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**A/N: This chapter was a fucking nightmare to write, I swear.**_

 _ **Life update, feel free to skip- My classes this semester are longer and a lot more work than they were the last, and my home life is really in the shitter rn. I don't have as much time or motivation as I used to for writing, and even though I don't want them to be, updates are probably going to be monthly, or around there.**_

 _ **Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, liking/favoriting and all that jazz. I really appreciate it c:**_

* * *

Quinn had forgotten there was an all-hours train running from the Institute to the major city states until she was actually on one, at the ripe hour of three in the morning.

There were bags in her hands and beneath her eyes, and the minute she and Lux were showed their compartment, Quinn practically begged the stewardess for coffee. She might have tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn't just ignore the reason why she'd let herself be dragged into an impromptu road trip to Demacia in the middle of the night.

Lux hadn't said a word.

Not a single thing since showing up at her apartment or one syllable as to why she absolutely refused to leave any later, why her eyes were bloodshot and she looked like she was about to be sick any second, or why she was wearing a shirt that definitely didn't belong to her.

She just sat there, baton clutched to her chest, holding her knees and staring blankly out of the window before they'd even left the platform.

Quinn was torn between voicing suspicions that'd been picking at her for weeks and just giving Lux the silence she so clearly wanted right then; she thought, all things considered, that she deserved to ask Lux at least one question.

"Lux."

Quinn's voice was kept carefully soft (a whisper, even) but Lux still jumped like she'd been yelled at, and the look she gave Quinn, when the shock faded away, was strangely empty. She didn't answer, just waited for whatever else Quinn wanted to say.

"Please tell me what happened."

Quinn could guess, but the last thing she needed right then was to upset Lux further; even that one question (which Lux had to have expected) made her curl in on herself even more, and the look she gave the window after that made Quinn's heart ache.

"This assignment is just really important, that's all."

The assignment that Quinn still knew nothing about.

It didn't look like she was going to get anything else from the blonde, and the stewardess showed up before Quinn could think of something else to say. She politely offered Lux coffee (after Quinn eagerly accepted her own) but she shook her head like the idea itself was offensive, then grabbed the carryon bag at her feet and rushed out of the compartment.

She came back wearing a different shirt and she stuffed her carryon far away from where she sank into her seat, and there was not a single time from the Institute to Demacia that Lux looked away from the window.

* * *

Being lied to is a terrible thing.

It was a million times worse if the liar was someone you cared about, someone you trusted; betrayal was a special thing all its own, the kind of sting that buried itself way, way inside you like some sort of parasite. You could attempt to smother it beneath anger or indifference, but the truth of the matter is that betrayal _hurt,_ and it continued to hurt no matter what you did.

For Talon, that's exactly how things were.

Anger came easily to him, and he certainly had many reasons to be; it was no small lie that Lux had crafted, nor was it just one, and Talon was still so furious that she had kept things from him. The letter about Riven, especially; she said she was going to tell him, but how could Talon possibly believe that?

How could he believe anything now?

That was the worst thing about the entire situation- Talon didn't know if _anything_ was true. Was Lux lying when she told him about her past in Demacia? About Desrosiers?

Was being with him at all just one more assignment?

Instinct said no, that Lux was a terribly skilled liar but not _that_ skilled, but he was still forced to second guess that, just as he was with everything else. If her plan this entire time had been to gain his trust to extract information, then her endeavor would have been successful enough; how many late nights had they spent speaking freely of their families, their countries, the things they've done? Lux certainly would have had plenty to take back to Demacia, if that was indeed her goal.

And to think that was even a possibility hurt more than anything.

A part of Talon stubbornly refused to believe that it was all one big lie; he didn't distrust Lux enough to think that she would craft this entire relationship just because someone told her to. And she was so earnest sometimes, spoke with such a haunted voice that hinted at real pain that it was easy, almost, for Talon to tell himself that that just couldn't be true. And how could someone make every kiss, every touch, into such perfectly crafted lies? How could someone feign to care that deeply?

But how could he know for sure that's not exactly what she was doing?

It wasn't like he could ask her; besides the fact that he was avoiding her, he didn't think he would believe anything she said anyway- but god did he want to. It wasn't only that he had trusted Lux, but cared for her, and he wasn't mad enough to say that he didn't miss her.

He missed her, he was furious with her, he couldn't trust her- Talon couldn't settle on just one.

It was confusing, to say the least; just under a week had passed but Talon was really no better off at the end of it as he was the night he'd told Lux he never wanted to speak to her again. His thoughts spun in circles with no answers, and he still couldn't determine if every night Lux spent with him was part of some ploy, or if Lux had meant it when she said this was all just because she didn't want to hurt him.

That ache in his chest spoke volumes about which one he wished it was, but wishing for something didn't make it true.

He couldn't come up with answers on his own, and Talon had decided not thinking about any of it was his best course of action. This, of course, was easier said than done; there weren't a lot of places he could go that didn't in some way remind him of Lux, and he'd taken to avoiding his apartment for the better part of his days. Instead, he'd been holing up in the Garden Grill and drowning his confusion and his anger in the bottoms of glasses, welcoming the familiar burn of alcohol and hoping that that day would go better than the last. That soon, maybe, it wouldn't matter who lied and why, and Talon could go back to just not caring.

His swimming thoughts still turned back to gold hair and a distinct warmth he was missing, and he promptly ordered another drink from his unsteady perch at the bar.

The bartender said nothing as he dutifully filled Talon's glass, and Talon reciprocated the silence; he gratefully brought the glass to his lips and downed an unseemly portion of it, embracing the fire washing down his throat and the momentary distraction it promised. The blossoming warmth in chest warred with the twisting pain that had taken root there, subduing it momentarily while Talon let out a low sigh. He'd regret the headache in the morning, but he definitely didn't regret the numbness he was drinking in now.

He would have been perfectly content to sit there for the rest of the evening, drinking way more than was healthy until he couldn't think anymore even if he wanted to, but he was evidently not a person with luck on their side; as she usually did when all he wanted was to be alone, Kat showed up at a rather inopportune moment, taking a seat on the barstool next to his and earning an annoyed glare.

"I've been looking all day for you," she said, unperturbed by Talon's unspoken hostility.

Talon doubted she was looking very hard then, because he'd been in the same spot for quite some time now.

"What do you want?"

He didn't have much patience on a good day, and today was definitely not one of those; Kat raised a brow at the slur in his voice, taking her time in answering while she examined his face.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, actually, but I guess I have my answer."

Talon shifted his gaze to his hands, and idly tapped a finger against the side of his glass.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

He knew Kat wouldn't take the hint to stop talking, which she readily proved.

"Why don't you tell me?"

Like he was going to say anything.

He was fine with sitting in silence until Kat got bored or frustrated and left, but that seemed not to fit in with her plans; while Talon sipped at a dwindling amber liquid, Kat casually carried on the mostly one-sided conversation.

"Or you can tell me why Lux left for Demacia without telling anyone."

It was strange to hear Lux's name come out of her mouth, and he felt clearly that hollowness in his chest again; it took his sluggish thoughts a moment to process, but when they did all of the numbness he'd accrued was swept away by that weird ache he'd been fighting for days.

She was in Demacia?

Stranger than that thought was why Kat was the one asking him.

"Why do you care?"

He shifted his gaze over enough to catch her shrug.

"I don't. Garen does."

Of course.

Talon answered with a shrug of his own, because that bit of knowledge was news to him. Sour news, at that. It was painfully uncomfortable to go from purposely avoiding Lux to knowing that she was cities away, and realizing that it in no way was something he wanted.

"I don't know why."

The attempt at a lie was weak because Talon's mind was not completely there, and he didn't care much for convincing Kat; Garen's worries were not his own, nor were they his problem.

"What happened, Talon?"

It was so uncomfortable because Kat could probably guess what happened for herself; why Lux had run off to Demacia without saying anything, why Talon didn't eve know she was gone, why he was alone at a bar almost too drunk to not answer her questions. It was terrible, also, because he'd spent days trying to bury everything and Kat was steadily ruining all of his hard work. Already set on not answering, Talon once again moved to take another drink from the glass in his hands, but he was too out of it to stop Kat when she snatched it away.

"I think you've had enough."

She was right- his swirling thoughts were proof to that. Still, annoyance bit at him because of her forced presence, and Talon stood on legs that were steadier than he thought would be, offering an acidic "Fuck you" over his shoulder as he left Kat at the bar. She didn't follow him, thankfully, but the damage was done; he couldn't stop thinking about why Lux felt the need to run off to Demacia, and he couldn't stop thinking about why that bothered him so much. Space was what he wanted. He didn't want to talk to her anymore. Isn't that what he said? He didn't want to talk to her.

Ever.

He felt emptiness like he hadn't before, because wanting distance from Lux and knowing with certainty that she was gone were two very different things; his drunken thoughts switched between longing and anger, still so unsure as to whether he should still be furious or if it was right for him to wish Lux wasn't gone. The headache he assumed he'd be saddled with in the morning began to pound behind his eyes the minute he stumbled into his apartment, unaware that was the direction he'd been walking in until he was closing the door behind him. He hesitated in the doorway, half expecting some sort of greeting, and upon realizing how ridiculous that was headed towards his bedroom.

And promptly slipped on something unseen in the darkness, catching himself on the recently closed door before his compromised stability ended up with him on the floor.

Talon fumbled around in the dark until he found the lamp next to the couch, taking an unusual amount of time to turn it on. He turned back to the doorway, noticing now the letter he'd stepped on. He swayed where he was standing, debating whether or not it was important enough to bother with right that second, and almost unconsciously found himself plucking it off the floor and bringing it to eye level.

It was simple- only his name written in a neat, flowing hand on one side, and a navy blue wax seal that swam before his eyes on the other.

Talon's breath hitched in his throat when he realized he recognized the handwriting; he'd seen it on notes left in his apartment and hers, and that strangled breath manifested in a humorless laugh the longer Talon stared at the stupidly perfect printing of his name.

Lux and her damn letters.

He was at war with himself again; the brainless half that itched to open it, and the more reasonable one that said to throw it away. Lux was in no position to reach out to him after what she'd done. That was for Talon to do, if ever he wanted to, and right then he certainly did not.

But that other, more hurt part of him did not stay silent, and instead of throwing it away Talon just threw it s _omewhere,_ not looking or caring where it landed and moving to flick the light back off. He paused only to clumsily unclasp his cloak and drop that somewhere too, then gratefully collapsed in his bed. His headache felt much worse off than before, thanks to the surprise letter he didn't want, but Talon was exhausted and eager to just not think, and his weary eyes thankfully slipped closed as he sank deeper into the comfort of his sheets.

In the seconds before falling asleep, that annoying half of his mind that cared just too damn much reminded him that he avoided his apartment because everything there was still infected by Lux; the bed was too cold and too empty without her there, and the pillows still smelled like her, and god Talon wished she wasn't a liar and that she was there, curling beneath his arm like she always did. He could almost imagine, flawed as it was, the quiet sigh of her voice and the soft press of her lips.

Almost.

* * *

"Lux, I need you awake."

Maddick's voice was accompanied by an impatient snap of his fingers, and Lux (who actually had been falling asleep) jerked upright in her chair, blinking bleary eyes across Maddick's desk. The wooden office chair she was sitting in wasn't comfortable and neither were the gray, undecorated walls of his office, but Lux was dragging, and even the unwelcome environment was starting to seem suitable to sleep in. Maddick's lips were pursed with clear annoyance, although Lux wasn't sure if it was because he'd have to repeat himself or because that was what he always looked like when he was addressing her.

She certainly hadn't missed him while she was away.

"I'm sorry, what?"

He gave her a wary stare, unsure if she was really paying attention this time because Lux still looked like she was about to fall over.

"I said I want to hear your opinion about this- the undead war heroes."

Lux stifled a yawn, and rolled her shoulders. It did little to reduce the stiffness in her limbs, and her chair wasn't doing her any favors either.

"I don't have an opinion," she answered, and even tired as she was the lie sounded convincing.

Maddick either didn't care about her opinion (which Lux thought was most likely) or he bought the lie, because instead of pressing Lux further he turned his attention to the open suitcase on his desk. There was the brief noise of shuffling papers when he reached inside, of which one was extracted, and Maddick's eyes quickly flicked over the lines Lux couldn't read from where she was sitting.

"Right," he said slowly, scanning the paper for one more moment before setting it on his desk and folding his hands on top of it. "Regardless. You leave the day after tomorrow, six am sharp. I'll have a letter sent to you with additional details."

Although several sleepless nights were still weighing heavily on her, Lux perked up a bit at that news.

"So soon?" she asked.

Maddick nodded, placing the paper back in his briefcase and snapping it shut with an ominous click of finality.

"Yes. The High Summoner was very specific when we informed her of your absence- she wants you back to the League sooner rather than later."

Lux's sore bottom lip found its way between her teeth again, and a frown knit her brow.

"You talked to Vessaria?"

Maddick's dark eyes flit over hers, searching for what, she couldn't tell. Whatever expression was on her face felt heavy and dull, and she doubted there was anything for Maddick to see.

"Of course. We talked to her first, actually."

Lux slumped a little further into the uncomfortable chair, letting her eyes slide down to her hands. If Maddick had asked Vessaria for Lux to take time off for the new assignment, then that meant he never considered she'd say no to it. Or he did, and he would have just forced her to anyway.

Lux was suddenly bitter, the first definitive emotion she'd felt in days, because all this time she'd been worried about accepting the assignment or not and she never even had a choice.

"I wanted to ask you about that, too."

Lux spared him a glance before she returned her gaze to where her hands were folded around her baton, and she hoped her disinterested mumble would discourage him from asking too much.

"Ask me about what?"

"About the League- the Noxians in particular. All this activity is making us nervous."

That was exactly what Lux was worried he would ask; she just shrugged again, eyes still down. There was no expression on her face before, but she couldn't be sure if that was still the case.

"I hardly see them. I have nothing to report."

This lie, just one of so many she was sure to tell, rolled easily off her tongue and Lux was suddenly aware of how much she relied on being able to sell untruths.

No wonder Talon didn't want anything to do with her.

"I need real answers, Lux. This is important," Maddick said, a touch of agitation in his voice.

This time Lux purposely met his eye, sleepiness forgotten as a sting of anger she couldn't smother wormed its way into her voice.

"What do you want me to say? I see them at dinner sometimes, they cut my throat during League matches. We don't talk. I haven't been watching them."

Lies, lies, lies.

She didn't just talk to the Noxians, she _fell_ for them; she talked and talked until everything she was, was all tangled up in that one, stupid Noxian. Until it hurt so bad to be dismissed by him that she couldn't sleep anymore, and any of the normal tolerance she usually had for Maddick entirely vanished.

Maddick just raised a brow, running a hand over his silver beard while he considered the sudden hostility he was faced with.

"Did something happen I should know about?"

He looked like he thought Lux's mini outburst was amusing, not concerning, and like he was waiting for her to share a particularly juicy bit of gossip; Lux's stomach twisted like it had when Quinn asked her that same question, and it was difficult for her to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat.

"No. Stupid questions just irritate me."

Her weak attempt at being insulting wasn't very successful, because Maddick had long since become used to unsavory behavior on Lux's end; the corner of his mouth did actually edge into a smile, but so briefly Lux almost missed it.

"Of course they do. Anyway, when you return, that's what the King and I want you to do; keep a closer eye on the Noxians. If they're planning something, we'd like to know."

Lux nodded stiffly, even though she knew she'd never follow through; upon her return to the League she planned on purposely avoiding every single Noxian for however long she had to be there.

"Is that all you needed?" she asked, hopeful that Maddick was as eager to have her out the door as she was.

Thankfully, he nodded, waving his hand at the door in dismissal.

"That's all. I'll have the letter sent by the end of the day."

She nodded, immediately standing and heading for the door without giving anything else in the way of a goodbye.

"Oh, and Lux?"

Reluctantly she paused, pressing her lips into a thin line and turning around. Maddick was leaning back in his chair, eyeing her from head to toe with a frown.

"Get some sleep. You look awful."

The self-restraint it took for Lux to say nothing was certainly commendable, and she gave a sarcastic salute and then left before he could insult her any further.

Maddick's office (neat and tidy, just like he was) was deep within an aging barrack station, the one nearest to Lux's apartment; its main use were the holding cells beneath the complex for prisoners that couldn't immediately be transported somewhere more secure. Lux had been kept there was she was first inducted into the military, and had been revisiting ever since whenever Maddick briefed her on a mission. She weaved her way through familiar halls, gray and unfriendly, struggling to keep her eyes open even despite the fact that painfully bright fluorescents lit every inch out of the building.

Maddick was right, loathe as she was to admit it- she needed to sleep.

She just _couldn't_ ; every time she grew tired enough to all but collapse in her bed, her mind decided that was the perfect moment to flood her with everything she'd been trying so hard not to think about. She'd set her weary head down, and the only thing she would be able to think about was that her bed was empty and that terrible hatred in Talon's eye the last time she saw him.

And endlessly her thoughts kept reminding her that he said never. He _never_ wanted to talk to her.

And what could she do?

She could just do what she'd come to Demacia for; go to Ionia, get away from everything while she looked for ghosts. It was better than dragging her wounded self around Demacia, and she dreaded the day she'd be sent back to the Institute. For now, the distraction Ionia promised was all she had.

Lux was once again greeted with sunlight as she left the barracks, and she felt rather grateful for the warmth it offered. She still felt on edge after the meeting with Maddick and his imploring questions, but the emptiness in her chest was a bit easier to ignore in daylight. Lux curled her fingers around her baton a little tighter as she walked, taking comfort in the familiar weight and doing her best to focus on the pleasing way the sunlight played on the metal and nothing else.

She was, briefly, glad she was back in Demacia; she spent so much of her time at the Institute cooped up inside (although by choice) and the bright weather was something she missed. It didn't do wonders for her mood, but it didn't hurt, either, and she really couldn't imagine being back at the Institute, alone with the knowledge that the only happiness she'd found there hated her now.

She tried to steer her mind away from that particular train of thought, but by the time her apartment came into view Lux was awash in thoughts of Talon and her lies, and regret had her eyes stinging. She shouldn't have lied, she knew that, but she wished Talon could have listened; that she'd been lying for so long and to so many people that the habit was hard to kill.

That, despite that, she'd been more honest with Talon than she ever had with anyone.

That loss hit her again, and just as fresh as it had the night she left the Institute; even here in Demacia, stepping into the apartment that had never been touched by Talon, the aching feeling that Lux was missing something she needed filled her with ice and stole her breath and Lux was just so tired of it all.

She hated that she lied, she hated that she'd let Talon mean so much to her, she hated that everything was still so painful and raw.

It was a relief, small as it was, to be back home; she closed the apartment door behind her, tired enough by now that Lux actually thought it would be easy for her to fall asleep. She plopped herself on the worn couch in the middle of the living room, setting her baton on the floor and maneuvering a pillow as comfortably as she could behind her head. She let her eyes slip closed before remembering that she wasn't alone in the apartment; a loud thump from Quinn's room had her eyes snapping back open, and when Quinn herself materialized she was rubbing her shoulder with a sour expression, a pack made for travelling strung over her arm and dressed in clothes that Lux recognized were for patrols. She nodded at Lux as she swung the bag over the shoulder she wasn't massaging, her expression a lot less annoyed and considerably more tender.

"Hey. How'd it go?"

Lux shrugged, not at all eager to go into detail.

"Fine. I leave the day after tomorrow."

This put a frown on Quinn's face, and Lux couldn't help but feel guilty; she'd been totally compliant with coming to Demacia with Lux, and without an explanation. Now she'd be leaving Quinn still without explaining anything, and although Quinn would never complain, that didn't stop Lux from feeling rotten about it.

She wished she could tell her.

"That's so soon. Do you know when you'll be back?"

That was something Lux didn't actually know; she planned on prolonging her stay in Ionia for personal reasons, because she was still convinced she wasn't going to find what she was being sent there to look for. To her, this was simply a means to get away.

"No. Hopefully not too long."

Quinn looked like she could see past that pretense, but she nodded without questioning it and stepped a little closer to the couch.

"I'll be stuck on patrol the next few days, so…"

The downward curve of her lips said it all- so she wouldn't be here when Lux left.

"I'll see you soon, okay?"

Despite the sadness in Quinn's voice and the icy claws that once again found their way around her heart, Lux fit her best approximation of a smile on her face, if for no other reason than to loosen some of the worry lines creasing Quinn's face.

"Of course. Good luck with your patrol."

Quinn's lips twitched into a small smile and she waved her hand, and then she was walking across the apartment and out of the door and once again Lux was left alone. She pursed her lips and tried to comfort herself with the thought that no matter what had happened with Talon or where she was going for how long, Quinn would be there whenever she got back.

And with that thought, Lux went to sleep.

* * *

Talon was absolutely, painfully right about the headache he had the next morning.

From the second he opened his eyes it pounded away, making him wish he'd never opened them in the first place and that he could just go back to sleep. Naturally, rest eluded him; after acknowledging that he was awake, his body refused to allow him to sleep any longer, and Talon sat up with a groan.

Despite the cottonmouth and massive headache and the fact that he wasn't actually sure if he could move, Talon didn't regret drinking himself into thoughtlessness.

He regretted the fact that the kitchen was so far away and that he was _so thirsty_ ; it took several minutes before Talon could convince himself that it was worth it to get up, and when he finally did he fought against aching muscles and a terrible sense of vertigo, slowly making his way to the kitchen as one small, teeny tiny sliver of regret wormed its way into his mind.

Maybe he shouldn't have had _quite_ so much to drink.

He ignored the thought as he rooted around in a cupboard for a glass, and rolled stiff shoulders while he held it beneath the faucet. He eagerly brought the glass to his lips when it was full, slowly downing the cool water and being especially grateful when it washed away the dryness in his mouth and helped to, in the smallest way, ease some of his headache. He set the glass on the countertop when he was finished, letting his elbows rest next to them and letting his head drop into his hands. It felt a little better to have his eyes closed, but he was starving and still thirsty and didn't really want to spend his day nursing a hangover.

A rumble from his stomach reminded him that he'd actually have to leave to get food, and Talon let out another groan at the thought.

He lifted his head when he felt steadier, doing his best to ignore the headache that promised not to be going anytime soon, and for the first time since waking up bothering to look anywhere other than where he was going.

It was like it was begging to be seen.

A small white letter was tossed carelessly in the middle of the room, placed so central that Talon couldn't help but feel like it'd been put there on purpose. His recollection was hazy, but he vaguely remembered throwing such a letter into the darkness of his apartment the night before, and although he initially moved to retrieve it, he paused when he remembered who it was from.

That particular memory did no wonders for the headache he was still trying to will away; he hesitated feet away from it like the letter was poisonous, and a quiet voice that he ignored told him he was being ridiculous.

And being fully aware that he was acting ridiculous still didn't make Talon take any further steps into the room.

He wanted to, that he couldn't deny; he also wanted to just leave it there and forget about it, because Talon was pretty certain that whatever the letter said wasn't something he wanted to hear. He'd heard enough of Lux's rationalizations and excuses, and what he needed right then was time to think by himself without anything else from Lux.

At least, that's what he told himself.

His self-discipline was too thin right then to last, and he walked over to the letter and slowly picked it up off the floor, letting his thumb slide carefully over the small indentation of his name. Whatever was inside was something Lux thought was significant enough to send even despite everything he'd said, despite him declaring he never wanted to hear from her again. It was important- to her, at least.

It was impossible to decide if it was important to him without opening it, but Talon didn't want to just yet.

He didn't throw it away, although he somewhat felt like he still should; he left it on his counter to be looked at later and decided that he'd have a much clearer head after a shower and something to eat.

With that thought in mind, Talon left the kitchen and the letter, nursing an all new headache and wishing things were just the tiniest bit simpler.

* * *

It wasn't the easiest thing to manage in his condition, but Talon did force himself to venture out and shovel something edible into his mouth, which marginally helped offset his slight nausea and some of the sour mood he'd woken up with.

Even feeling somewhat better and with his headache throbbing a bit less than before, Talon still had a problem; he couldn't quite come to a definitive decision as to what to do with the letter. The fact that he'd kept it at all suggested he wanted to read it, and part of him hoped that it contained some magical explanation that would make him want to immediately forgive Lux, but he was still stubbornly clinging to the idea that he shouldn't. That Lux hadn't even earned so much as a glance at whatever she had to say after what she'd done.

Granted that stubborn bit of him was small and shrinking, but for now, it had enough presence to make Talon indecisive.

His first thought was that he wished he could just ask Lux for advice; if it was a week ago, she would have been the first person he'd go to. Since Lux was obviously out of the question, Talon's only option was Kat, and he cringed at having to hunt her down to ask her for a favor.

Because he could vaguely remember being perhaps a little less than polite to her at the bar last night.

Talon was desperate enough to have some sort of answer as to what to do with the letter that he went looking for Kat anyway; it was too late for her to be training so he tried her apartment first, swallowing his discomfort when he arrived and immediately knocking on the door before he lost his nerve.

She actually answered fairly quickly; she had to have known that it was him, but she opened the door and stuck a hand on her hip, her expression caught halfway between haughty and angry.

"What do you want?" she asked, echoing his words from the night before.

Because he was there intending to ask her for advice, Talon didn't roll his eyes and he didn't snap out some snarky response; he shifted his gaze the tiniest bit away from hers, feeling as though his cloak was suddenly doing very little to hide his face.

"I need… your advice," he said slowly, the words unfamiliar and somewhat difficult to spit out.

Kat's eyebrows immediately shot up, but before she said anything she glanced almost nervously behind her and then back to him. Following the quick dart of her eyes, Talon looked beyond Kat and into the apartment, realizing that Kat wasn't alone.

"I have company."

Clearly.

Garen seemed a lot less nervous about being caught in Kat's apartment than Talon thought he should, and even offered the most awkward wave to Talon that he had ever seen. He was a little too surprised to even consider responding, and Talon turned back to Kat with a very carefully controlled expression; he couldn't say anything, because he still very much needed to speak with her.

"It's important," he prompted, hoping Kat would take the hint and tell Garen to leave.

And she did; obviously reluctant to do so, she left Talon in the doorway and walked over to where Garen was sitting on the couch, whispering something to him that Talon missed but that got him to stand and walk back with her to the apartment door. They paused before getting to where Talon was hesitating in the doorway, and without a word they easily leaned into a brief kiss goodbye. It was, on the one hand, insanely weird to see Kat displaying any sort of tender emotion, much less to Garen, but at the same time it made Talon swallow uncomfortably, and no matter how strange he thought the relationship was, it still made him miss his own.

Garen avoided his eye as he stepped around Talon and down the hallway, and when Talon let himself in Kat gruffly cleared her throat and shifted uneasily on her feet.

"Keep in mind you're sleeping with his sister," she said, as if that made Garen hanging out in her apartment any less strange. Actually, it made that bitter longing twist a bit more sharply inside him, and Talon realized he was envious of Kat.

"That's actually want I wanted to talk to you about."

He was set on completely ignoring the whole Garen thing and just getting to what he needed to say, and after making themselves comfortable in the living room, Kat thoughtfully tapped a finger against her lips.

"If I had known it was _that_ kind of advice-"

He shook his head, eager to derail that particular conversation before Kat really had a chance to start it.

"Kat, please."

She held up both hands, clearly not meaning to offend, and leaned back in her chair.

"What is it then?"

And she didn't sound unkind this time, or like she was mocking him; she sounded genuinely curious, and perhaps the smallest bit concerned.

It was difficult for Talon to think of a place to start; if he could, he would have just asked her if she thought he should open the letter or not, but he didn't think he could do that without providing context. And he didn't really want to say the bare minimum- he actually wanted to tell Kat what happened, because at this point he'd do anything to feel the slightest bit less miserable.

"She's… Lux is a spy," he began, hoping that was the best place to start. "Or was, I don't know."

He didn't- another one of the many problems he currently had.

Kat took that particular bit of info completely in stride, and didn't look the slightest bit surprised.

"I know."

She waved her hand at Talon's questioning expression, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Garen," she explained.

Of course.

Continuing on despite that, Talon fiddled with one of the edges of his cloak, doing his best to shove aside any discomfort he had about sharing something personal and just speaking.

"I asked her months ago if she's spied on us before, and she lied to me."

He couldn't help but remember that day in the training room when he'd asked the question that had been picking at him from the second Lux told him she was a spy, and the easy lie she'd fed him. Even back then, he didn't suspect a thing.

"Does that surprise you?"

She didn't look surprised at all, and even when he found out she was lying about it, Talon hadn't been either.

"No," he said truthfully. "But that's not it. She got this letter from Demacia… An assignment, I guess. She was going to be sent to Ionia to look for Noxian deserters."

He didn't know much beyond that, because he'd been too furious that night to ask her too much; besides, Lux had supplied the only thing about it that he needed to know.

"Riven is one of those deserters, Kat. Her name was in Lux's letter."

Riven, the only other person he'd cared about as much as he cared for Lux, the girl who was too good for half of the terrible things that had happened to her. He heard Kat's sharp intake of breath, saw the pinched expression, because Talon wasn't the only one who used to love Riven.

"She wasn't going to tell me about anything."

And the anger that had faded so much over the last week resurfaced, giving a bite to his tone that wasn't there before. He couldn't help but feel like the only reason Lux came clean was because she was cornered, and his hands curled into tight fists when he remembered that horrified look on Lux's face when she realized she'd been caught.

But he also remembered the tears streaming down her face right before he stormed out, and suddenly his anger didn't seem so hot.

Kat, for the most part, was taking it all in with a very composed silence; there was a wrinkle in her brow that hinted at a frown, but there was no anger on her face like there was on Talon's, and she looked pensive more than anything.

"What do you know about this assignment?" she asked.

Talon shook his head- what did that matter?

"That's all I know. That's all I _have_ to know."

To him, that was certainly nothing small to lie about. Judging by the look on Kat's face, she didn't feel any better about it than he did; she said nothing, though, just stared at her hands while she thought of what to say.

"Okay…" she said, carefully sounding out every letter and looking up slowly. "Do you want me to be honest?"

The glare he gave her answered the question readily enough, and she huffed a sigh.

"So you… don't actually know what the letter said. You didn't ask her."

"No."

Kat tucked a lock of scarlet hair behind her ear, and held up her hands like she was trying to calm Talon before he even had a reason not to be.

"Is it possible, then, that she doesn't actually know if Riven is alive either? Because as far as I know… she isn't, Talon, no matter what someone in Demacia said in a letter."

Of all the things Kat could have said, this was the worst; it did actually occur to Talon, days after he'd sworn off Lux and calmed down, that she wasn't in a position to know with any certainty what happened to Riven if she was still alive. No one except Riven herself was, and she was still most likely dead. Kat could be right.

Talon still shook his head, because that wasn't the only problem.

"She still lied about everything. That doesn't change no matter what the deal with Riven is."

Again, though, there was no agreement on Kat's face.

"Can you really blame her? If she's half the idiot you are, and likes you half as much as you obviously do her, wouldn't she want to… not fuck it up? And I hate to say it but you really don't respond well to people when they bring up Riven, and I'm sure Lux doesn't know anything about her except you're exceptionally touchy about it."

Talon threw up one hand, not believing a single word out of Kat's mouth. Was she actually taking Lux's side when she was clearly in the wrong? What about what Talon had told her made Kat think that Lux deserved sympathy?

And why, even as mad as he was at Kat for not immediately agreeing with him, did he feel the strangest relief that Kat was arguing?

"So you think it's okay that she lied?" he snapped, not over his anger quite yet.

She quickly shook her head.

"Obviously not, but I think it says something that you're here asking about it at all."

Talon was still mad because Kat was right, again; he did have a reason to be angry, but maybe not for as many reasons as he thought. And he clearly did not want to be. He might have said he never wanted to talk to Lux again, but it was evident to him that he didn't mean it. People said stupid, hurtful things when they were angry.

And they lied when they were scared, too.

He wasn't ready to admit he was wrong, and he still felt like his anger was justified considering Lux had lied to him; he couldn't help snapping again, although Kat didn't seem surprised.

"Why are you defending her?"

Whether Lux was in the wrong or not, Talon had just assumed that Kat would take his side; he was surprised to see her stick up for Lux, and to continue to do so even considering how angry Talon was.

"Why aren't _you?"_ she countered, emerald eyes entirely serious.

There was a pause, because Talon didn't know what to say; he felt like simply replying with 'because she lied' wasn't the right answer, nor was it good enough anymore.

"Listen, you came here for my advice, and I'm giving it to you. I don't think you should be as angry as you are."

And he wasn't as much anymore; Talon was confused and lost and starting to feel like he'd written Lux off without really giving her a chance to explain. Because angry people really were not the most rational.

He shook his head, aching even worse than before, and realized there was something he forgot to mention.

"There's… she sent me a letter yesterday. I haven't read it yet."

This Kat received with an exaggerated roll of her eyes; she stood up, motioning for Talon to do the same, and jabbed a finger towards her door.

"Go read it. You could hear her out at the very least."

That was really all the convincing he needed.

He couldn't help but still feel mad at being lied to, but he no longer felt bad for wanting to read the letter; he was eager now to get back to his apartment and see what was written inside of it, but when he got to the door Kat had one last thing to say.

"Talon," she said slowly, waiting for him to turn around before giving him a tentative smile.

"It's okay to forgive her, you know."

He did want to forgive Lux, and he wanted to forget that anything bad and terrible had even happened.

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

In his apartment Talon wasted no time in snatching the letter off his counter, in tearing through the paper and running his fingers over letters Lux had written out and reading every word once, twice, three times, over and over until he felt none of the confusion that had plagued him since Lux left.

Talon knew what he was going to do.

* * *

 _Talon,_

 _Before I say anything else, I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I never meant for things to end up the way they did, and even though I can't take any of it back, I'm still sorry for it all._

 _I decided to take the assignment. I'll be in Demacia until Friday, and if this letter reaches you in time…There's something I need to tell you, something new with the case. I would write it to you if I could, but I can't. It's important enough that, despite everything, I'm asking you to meet me here. I'll attach a map for a place and a time to meet me outside of the city, if you decide to come._

 _I'm not asking you to forgive me, but I'm hoping you'll at least listen to what I have to say._

 _Lux_

* * *

 _ **The scratch of a pen, the smooth shuffle of papers, the quietest ruffle of feathers: these were the sounds that Swain loved the most.**_

" _ **War is an amazing thing, Beatrice. And starting one is the best part."**_

* * *

 _Reviews-_

 _TheLivingDread- I strongly encourage you to do so. (I'm kidding don't tell your parents I'm telling you to feed.)_

 _Adonna2424- I'm sorry ;-; It's definitely a bad reason! Yes, yes. Murder them all._

 _Guest- All of us? Hopefully._

 _Mirae- Oh my gosh, thank you ;-; I usually gloss WAY over intimate stuff, but it was kind of fun being a bit more… descriptive this time. Thank you for the review ^~^ I can safely say that Quinn definitely does more boss stuff._

 _Captain Teemo- That sounds like iffy conflict resolution at best._

 _Talon- oh my GOD lol. None of us do, Talon. None of us do._

 _Ulcaasi- Ah, the best kind of relationship though. I love shitty timing and shitty coincidences and I love that you think Ezreal sucks._

 _NaniMok- Aww, thank you so much ;-; I'm sorry it's agony, things will… probably… get better c:_

 _Garenkat Fangirl- None of these gigantic BABIES know how to COMMUNICATE, but Lux is getting there ^-^ Yeah yeah everyone loves everyone but they're all so stupid and stubborn and god do I love these big babies._

 _Conclusion- YOU ARE WONDERFUL AND I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU, THANK YOU CARO_

 _Darkblade2814- I didn't bash Ezreal in the fic though. I think I've written his character fairly. He obviously overstepped his bounds last chapter, but I didn't write that because I hate Ezreal. I wrote that because he's one of Lux's closest friends and the only one that knows about her and Talon, and he's brave enough (and concerned enough) to want to do something, since he genuinely believes that Lux is in danger. If I thought I couldn't write Ezreal without making him hated for no reason or making him do bad things just because, then I wouldn't have put him in the fic at all. The Ezreal bashing is only a joke between me and my reviewers, and it's only outside of the fic. I have never and will never write Ezreal badly/doing something bad just because I don't like him._

 _Lux x Talon FTW- Take me to weeb corner with you bb_

 _TheMIxCage- open mid, it's all over. Glad to hear it c:_

 _Nic- Eyyy. Ezreal ruines everything! Thank you thank you c:_

 _Whirlwind67- Our poor, poor hearts._

 _Guest- I have absolutely no idea why you would read a fic that makes you uncomfortable, honestly._

 _Glaesii- I'm so glad to hear it! Thank you ^-^_

 _AlphaClab- Oh, see, I don't agree with that at all. I don't think Tryndamere is an abusive person to begin with (relationship-wise) especially not in an arranged marriage he agreed to. That just doesn't make sense to me. Thank you ;-; I'm at the point in my life where I can't ship Talon and Lux with anyone else anymore, so I definitely feel your pain there._

 _iFireLightning- please tell me you love it. I am wicked, but I do still love you ;-;_

 _A swede- I was working on it, no worries!_

 _Xayafate- Awww! Thank you so much ;-;_


	25. Chapter 25

Being on patrol was something Quinn always enjoyed.

She was a social and friendly person, but she valued the time she had to herself and with Valor, and she would always prefer the raw wilderness to ordered cities any day. Her structured life at the Institute had been dragging on her more than she realized, and she didn't know how much she needed a break until she was worming her way onto familiar paths so deep in the Demacian forest that no one but Valor could hope to find her.

The distinct chill the night air carried was invigorating, and even though they were technically working, Valor would continuously swoop low through the trees to make a pass over her head, letting out small chirps and coos of excitement. It made her heart soar to see the bird so obviously elated, and as they made their way down established patrol routes Quinn would occasionally whistle a tune to Valor that only they knew, waiting for his answering call with a smile.

This was the freedom the Institute didn't offer her- this is why she came back to Demacia.

She thought it was a little silly at first, being pulled back to simply be put on patrol again, but Quinn and Valor's skill was unrivaled, and she knew that Demacia missed the specific protection they had to offer. In truth, they covered a lot more ground than other people could and Valor himself was an invaluable asset, and there weren't a lot of people who took to ranging with the grace and enthusiasm that Quinn did. She loved what she did, and she did it well, and she really didn't mind being asked to take time away from the Institute of War.

The free time was spent doing more than just enjoying the company of Valor; she was, of course, on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, but she was also thinking of her inevitable return to the Institute, and she was thinking of Lux. She thought of her friend being shipped off to places unknown for an undetermined amount of time, and how terribly quiet and empty she had been the past week. Quinn still didn't know what was going on or what had happened before they left the Institute, but she did have her suspicions; she fully intended on grilling Lux when she returned to the Institute, however distant that time may be, but for now she hoped her friend would find at least some ease to the pain that she carried.

Lux was no stranger to unhappiness, that Quinn knew, and although she wished she could be there for her, Quinn was confident that Lux was the most suited to pull through a dark spell on her own. She had so many times before when she had no one, time and time again, and Quinn thought of her best friend with a fierce pride.

Lux was strong enough to make it through anything- of that Quinn was certain.

It eased her mind a bit to assure herself, and to Quinn the night air didn't feel quite as frigid as before; the wind brought with it a new energy, a new promise of change, and a smile that no one could see tugged insistently at Quinn's lips, an expression of happiness all her own. As if sensing the mood, Valor let out a call that made Quinn wish she could join him in the skies, briefly joining her beneath the trees instead before flying off once more.

Rarely had Quinn ever felt as happy as she did right then.

It made the rest of that patrol that much more enjoyable; she felt very light as she traversed paths that she had made, deeper and deeper into a wilderness that only she knew. It was hours before she heard from Valor again, and it was only a short, brief little warble that wiped away a lot of her earlier lightheartedness. It was the sound Valor made when he found something and couldn't immediately tell if it was friend or foe; Quinn wasn't worried, exactly, but she was much more serious than before, and she shifted her little crossbow from where she'd had it resting on her back to a ready position on her arm. She allowed Valor to lead her farther into the darkness, guiding her to a spot in the woods that was not as black as the rest; the light she saw through the trees should not have been there, and Quinn expertly threaded her way through the foliage until that spot transformed into a small tent, all alone in the unforgiving woods.

Quinn hesitated in the thicker woods surrounding the little campsite, trying to quickly assess the situation before approaching the tent. It was in such an unusual place, too far from Demacia to be casual campers and too well-hidden for it to be a random place to set up camp. Quinn couldn't think of a single person that would want to be this far out, and purposely so, and she held her crossbow arm up while she signaled for Valor to come in close.

This was her job, after all.

Even more carefully than before she crept closer to that small tent, noticing now shadows behind the fabric, stationary except for the distinct outline of one person that moved once or twice. Quinn frowned, letting a low, near silent whistle through her teeth as she abandoned her cover and approached the tent.

"Hello?"

* * *

No matter what reason he had for being there, Talon hated being in Demacia.

And he wasn't even _in_ Demacia, technically; more like traversing the stupidly thick forest outside of it, numbly clutching the map Lux had provided and trying to will warmth that didn't exist into his extremities. He had planned for frigid weather, but thick clothes and his cloak did very little to assuage the cold and every breath fanned out in front of him, and it was a constant effort to keep his fingers from growing stiff beneath his gloves. It was a good distraction, at first, to obsessively check Lux's letter and make absolutely certain he was going in the right direction (even though he knew he was, because Lux's directions were painfully simple to follow) but the sun was dropping from the sky at an increasingly rapid rate, and soon all Talon had to go by was the silvery light of the moon.

He wasn't usually so uncomfortable being in unfamiliar territory (that was certainly nothing new to him) but he eyed the night around him with cautious eyes, warily keeping his head down and his pace swift. It was an unsettling mix of emotions, to be so on edge but at the same time almost painfully excited; Talon's anticipation had the entire trip from the Institute to Demacia to grow, and now that he was _here,_ so close to finally seeing Lux, any patience he had was running dangerously thin. He needed to see her, he needed to know what she had to say, he needed more than anything to sort through the mess between them. It was a heavy shadow that hung over him, knowing that things were bad and not knowing how Lux was or what she was feeling or thinking or anything, and it would be an immense relief not to worry about it anymore.

That was what Talon was hoping for- some sort of resolution to the confusion, some ease to the anger and the hurt.

He was determined now, as well as excited; his silent path through the trees was faster, less wary, and he followed the last of Lux's directions until the inky forest was broken up by something other than moonlight. It was faint at first, just the slightest patch of light threading between the boughs, but Talon recognized the irregularity and made a beeline for it. The spot of not-night turned into a soft yellow glow, promising warmth and beckoning Talon closer, and he hardly even noticed when he broke through the tree line and into the smallest of clearings, because there was a quaint little tent that nobody but him and Lux could hope to find, offering the only comfort for miles around.

Talon could faintly see the outlines of indistinct shadows behind the fabric of the tent, and although they were in no discernible shape, his chest felt oddly tight and the cold in his limbs was chased away. He hesitated at the edge of the clearing, but reminded himself that he'd come all this way to see Lux and there was really no time for delaying now, and he crossed the last few paces to the tent, close enough now to actually feel the warmth of a fire. He lifted his blade-free hand to pull the entrance of the tent out of the way, stepped inside, let all that anticipation he'd been feeling melt away as he finally-

Came to an absolute, abrupt standstill, every thought driven from his mind as cold fingers of ice pulled the air from his lungs and replaced it with an emptiness that made every bit of Talon feel detached.

For one terrible, unimaginably gut-wrenching moment, Talon did think that the other person in the tent was Lux; slim, delicate features, parted lips that mirrored ones he had memorized. He had never, ever been so relieved to be wrong before. The woman in the tent was seated in a simple chair, dressed in warm, expensive clothes, chocolate tresses pulled away from her face and pinned on the back of her head. Her skin was pale, like Lux's, but upon further examination Talon noticed it was sallow and ghostly and lined with age, and stuck forever in a grimace of disdain.

Because that woman's throat was cut into a bright red smile, a bloody grin that taunted Talon for reasons he could not fathom.

It was surprise that kept Talon rooted at the tent entrance, transfixed by the scene that he could not possibly understand; he saw this woman, clearly wealthy and Demacian and very much dead, and he could only think that this is where Lux was supposed to be. This is where Lux sent him. He could never have been more relieved that the woman with the bloody throat _wasn't_ Lux, but the only sense that Talon could make of what he was presented with was that wherever Lux was, she was most likely in the same situation as the woman he was staring at now.

Ice again filled his veins the longer he stood there, his feet stuck in place no matter how much his mind told him to run, run, run. He couldn't explain why he lingered; maybe he still stubbornly believed that Lux was going to show up, that she would explain to him who this woman was and why she was dead, but Talon was also aware that he was very far away from any safe place and that he was somewhere no one was supposed to know about, alone with a dead Demacian. No matter what had actually happened to her, he knew that this was not a situation that would be favorable for him to be caught in.

And he might have left right then, returned to the Institute in the hopes that Garen had news of where Lux was and if she was okay, except his thoughts kept repeating "she should have been here" over and over and the longer he stared at the ghostly corpse, the more and more he realized that things were so much more complicated than simply 'Lux wasn't here.'

It was that gash across the woman's throat, so clean and meticulous and careful. Practiced. It was a quick and easy way to end a life, and Talon couldn't help but appreciate the neat line of red that graced otherwise smooth skin- because he'd put that same exact mark on dozens of necks. If he didn't know any better, if he didn't know with absolute certainty that he'd never seen that woman before and that he was only here to see Lux, he would have thought that the wound was put there by himself. He had no trademarks, no giveaways other than merciless efficiency.

Something that someone had gone through a lot of trouble to replicate.

Still reeling from the relief that it wasn't Lux sitting there with her throat slashed open, Talon couldn't even begin to make sense of what was happening; there was nothing else in the tent besides the body and one low fire, and he had seen no one else on his way to the location Lux provided. It was very out of the way, deep enough into the Demacian wilderness that no one else could really hope to stumble upon it by accident. There was a reason that Lux had put this place in her letter- it was supposed to be difficult to find unless you were looking for it.

So where was she?

It was the question that kept repeating itself louder over all of the other ones racing through his mind, but Talon had no answers other than he needed to not be where he was. He had no way of finding out where Lux was, but the last thing he needed to was to be caught in Demacia, alone with a corpse that looked so convincingly like it was his. He took one step backwards, began to turn around and run back the way he came when an oddly familiar and tentative voice shattered the night stillness.

"Hello?"

Talon whirled, cloak fanning around him as he turned to face the entrance of the tent, and he realized very quickly why the voice was familiar; Quinn stood at the mouth of the tent, holding one of the flaps up but not stepping any closer. From the look on her face, she was no less surprised to see Talon there than he was to see her. Her mouth popped open and a frown creased her brow, but whatever she'd been about to say died on her lips; her eyes flicked from Talon to the woman behind him, and he visibly cringed when he realized what she would be seeing. What it looked like.

"Quinn, it's not what you-"

At the sound of his voice, Quinn's eyes jerked back to Talon, and in a flash of movement he wasn't anticipating, she ducked out of the tent. He didn't hesitate this time, like he did when he first found the body; Talon knew that if he let Quinn get away thinking that he'd murdered whoever that was in the tent, he would have much bigger problems than wondering where Lux was. He sprinted out, catching a glimpse of her running form at the edge of that miniscule clearing and tearing after her.

He was at a distinct disadvantage considering that this was Quinn's territory and that she was every bit at home in these woods, but Talon was an expert at hunting down people who ran, and he did so now with a desperation he never had; he could tell, and she could tell, that he was gaining on her, and he paid no mind to muscles that screamed the harder he pushed them or the chilling air that had turned to knives in his lungs. He kept Quinn in his sights, put on one final burst of speed, threw out his left hand to catch her shoulder, and the second before he connected, Quinn spun around and leveled her arm at him, and the last thing Talon registered before running into her was a quiet hiss of air and a sharp, terrible pain as something connected with his thigh.

And _then_ he ran into her.

He'd never tried to before, but Talon was especially mindful to keep the blade on his arm from unintentionally harming Quinn; it was almost impossible to pin her without really using one arm, but he'd hit her hard, and she was off balance after lining up the shot to his leg. There was a brief scuffle when they fell to the forest floor, but Talon had enough weight on Quinn to keep her pressed to the earth, maneuvering so that the knee of his uninjured leg was weighing down on the forearm strapped to her crossbow, the other one kept at an awkward angle because of the pain it was in. Straddling her midsection, it was easy for Talon to fit his left forearm against Quinn's chest, and as if that didn't make it hard enough for Quinn to move, he brought his blade to bear and very carefully pressed the tip of it to Quinn's throat.

That was when Quinn stopped struggling.

The threat was clear, even if they were both too breathless to speak; ragged gasps broke over both of their lips, and little white huffs filled the meager space between them. As close as he was, Talon could clearly see Quinn's eyes, wide with fear and anger, and how they flicked continuously between his face and his blade.

He had a feeling this was not the way he was going to convince Quinn that he was innocent.

He didn't move while he recovered his breath, but he tried very hard to ignore the fire in his thigh and a rib he was sure Quinn had bruised sometime in their fall, and in the time it took him to painfully gather his breath Quinn all but spit at him.

"Get _off_ of me, Talon!"

She tilted her head so that it wasn't as close as it was before to the sharp edge of his blade, but they both knew she couldn't get out from underneath him. Actually, only Quinn knew that; Talon knew that the arrow in his leg was a lot more serious than he thought initially, because the longer he sat there making absolutely sure that Quinn could not escape, the colder his leg grew and the harder it was to keep it in position. Talon knew it was only a matter of time before he wouldn't be able to move it right, and Quinn would realize that she could get away.

Which meant he had to talk, and do it fast.

"Quinn," he said, still so out of breath and doing his very best to sound calm. "That wasn't me."

She didn't believe a word he said, that much was clear from her expression; most of her fear gave way to fury, and she gave a sudden jerk beneath him.

"Off! Now!"

The movement made his leg flare with fresh pain, and Talon grit his teeth as exasperation colored his tone.

"I don't have the time to chase you down again, Quinn! I need you to _listen!"_

This time, Quinn didn't answer; her breathing was a whole lot more even than before, and even though there was still fear contorting her face and anger twisting her mouth, she waited.

"I didn't kill whoever that is. I know what it looks like, but it. Wasn't. Me."

Talon tried to be as convincing as humanly possible, hoping the truth in his words was evident; he hoped that Quinn could see he was just as confused as she was, that he had absolutely no idea what was going on other than how bad it all looked. Again Quinn chose to stay silent, but there was a flicker of confusion on her face, and Talon took that as a sign that something about this didn't make sense to her, either.

"If I killed her, I wouldn't be here convincing you. I would have just killed you, too."

As if to prove his point, Talon pulled his blade away from her neck, holding it up so that she could see it was nowhere near her anymore. He didn't let her up, but she was visibly relieved when the cold steel was no longer touching her skin, and the doubt on her face was much more pronounced. He didn't think that that was enough, that if he let her go right then that she wouldn't just immediately run off again, and Talon really couldn't go after her; already his leg was growing numb, and the rib he thought was bruised ached more with every breath that resonated in his chest. He was in bad shape, and if anything, he entirely relied on Quinn now.

And then he remembered the letter- if Quinn didn't believe him, she would believe Lux.

"I have a letter," he said, and he couldn't help the pain that edged into his voice this time. "It's from Lux. She told me to meet her here."

To Quinn, that probably didn't sound much more believable than him saying he had nothing to do with the dead woman; to her, there was no reason that Lux would ever have anything to say to Talon. She was terrified of Noxians, so why would she invite one to Demacia? And yet, there was no flash of surprise across Quinn's face like that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. Of everything that had happened in the last few minutes, this bit of news seemed like it shocked Quinn the least.

She was very compliant when Talon removed the arm he had pressed to her chest and retrieved the well-worn letter from within his cloak, and since he was trusting that Quinn was doubtful enough by now not to run off the second he released her, Talon rolled off her chest and tossed her the letter. She moved away from him a little until she was sitting a more comfortable distance away, sitting up and rubbing the spot on her neck his blade had been touching. She gingerly picked up the letter, reaching around in her coat for a moment before producing a lighter and flicking it open so that she could read. All this Talon watched from where he was sitting, trying to subtly inspect the damage to his leg in the dark all the while keeping a sharp watch on Quinn, preparing himself to stop her should she try to run again.

But she didn't.

The letter was short, and Talon had it almost memorized by now; without context, he knew Quinn wouldn't know what it meant or why Lux was apologizing to him of all people, but she would see that Lux did ask him to be there, that the map she attached led right to where they were sitting. It was written in Lux's hand, it was signed by her. Everything Talon said was true.

But still Quinn frowned at this letter like she half expected it was fake, and when she let the lighter click closed darkness and silence enveloped them both. There was only the sound of Talon's ragged breathing, which he couldn't seem to steady. He waited for Quinn to say something or do anything, but she took her time processing the information, and the longer they sat there the more Talon felt the irrepressible urge to move.

"This doesn't make any sense," she whispered, and her voice was laden with doubt and confusion. "Why would she send this to you?"

Talon couldn't help the sharp sigh that escaped him, because he didn't have the time to explain to Quinn anything about him and Lux. Right now he needed her help out of Demacia, because he was too injured to leave himself.

"I'll explain that when I'm not bleeding in the middle of the woods."

He couldn't tell how much blood he was losing, but Talon wasn't going to risk it; Quinn made no movement to get up, however, and Talon was starting to get desperate.

"How long have we been here?"

Talon had absolutely no idea what that question had to do with anything; he tried to keep his frustration out of his tone, he really did, but the pain he was in wasn't getting any better and he couldn't make it out of Demacia on his own.

" _Why_ does that matter?"

There was a shuffle in the dark, and Talon just barely caught Quinn shifting her position.

"I sent Valor for help when I found the tent. He'll be back with soldiers any second now."

Talon couldn't have possibly imagined the night getting any worse than it was already, but evidently it was possible. His first instinct was to run; if he had a head start, he could avoid any other patrols and get back to a train station outside of Demacia. Only Quinn knew it was him there, so feasibly he could get away and no one would know he'd ever been in Demacia in the first place.

Except that he was injured, and he wouldn't be outrunning anyone.

They both realized this, and neither of them moved despite how badly they wanted to seconds ago; they both knew it would be too late. Talon wasn't going anywhere.

Dread settled heavy and low in the pit of his stomach, because Talon had never been caught before; he knew what would happen to a Noxian assassin on Demacian soil, especially with that body. He couldn't run, and he very much doubted he would be convincing anyone else of his innocence.

"You can't run," Quinn whispered, as if he didn't already know.

He was going to be captured. Talon, who had never, ever even come close to something like this before, was going to be caught.

And he felt oddly calm, not panicked like he would have thought, and he ignored his labored breathing and the injured leg and could only think of one thing.

"Do you know where she is?"

It must have sounded strange, how even his voice was, and stranger still what he was asking for; he saw Quinn shake her head, and again that fear that Lux was hurt somewhere twisted deep in his gut, and painfully so.

"She should be at home."

There was so much confusion in Quinn's voice, because previously she was convinced that Lux was in Demacia- this letter filled her with doubt, and she couldn't be sure of where Lux was or what she was doing.

In the terrible silence that followed Quinn's answer, the previously still night air was broken up by the distant baying of hunting dogs, a noise that instinctually made Talon's muscles twitch, made his brain scream at him to move. He didn't, however; he took another breath, a little more ragged than the last.

"Hide that letter," he breathed, and he didn't have to explain why; if someone other than Quinn thought that Lux was involved with all of this, then Lux would be in just as much danger as Talon. If anything, he was going to keep her name out of it.

Quinn folded the letter and tucked it into her coat, slowly getting to her feet and offering Talon her hand. He hesitated at first, then cautiously accepted the help, painfully standing and doing his best to keep his weight off of his injured leg. Neither of them moved while the sounds of approaching dogs and soldiers grew ever so louder, but they faced each other in the darkness and there was a worry on Quinn's face that, although nothing else had, hit home just how much trouble Talon was in.

"Don't say anything to anyone. If you have no choice, then I found you, I shot you, and that's all we know. Do you understand?"

And Talon was hardly paying attention now because the noise that was distant before was crashing around them, voices and footsteps and dogs and all the sounds that filled him with fresh panic. It was almost painful for him to repress instinct and stand there, knowing full well that he was about to be captured.

"I'll find her," Quinn promised.

And that was the last thing she had the time to say before the soldiers surrounded them, before he was thrown back to the ground and restraints were tied around his wrists and he was dragged back to Demacia.

And what an unforgiving place that was for assassins with blood on their hands.

* * *

 _ **A/N: I'm attempting this "plot" thing, please don't make fun of me. I for one am a HUGE lover of cliffhangers like these, but don't worry, the next chapter is basically written. I just want to let you guys (Caroline) stew a little :^)**_

 _ **Reviews-**_

 _ **Talon- EwwwWWW you're not allowed to agree with him!**_

 _ **Guest- Thanks- I completely understand! If anything, this chapter was completely fine to skip because it was basically "we're all very sad babies who make bad decisions."**_

 _ **TheMIxKage- Oh ty ty. 1v1 ME IRL BRUH. Will do my friend ^~^**_

 _ **PikaPown- aww ;-; Thank you so so much! Sometimes I'm afraid I'm making her a bit TOO relatable (it's a little too easy to write about depression sometimes, ahh) but this way of writing Lux is so fun and I've enjoyed it so much, so it makes me so happy to read reviews like this. Thanks for the kind words and the follow!**_

 _ **BurningVengeance1719- I would agree with this review wholeheartedly (because I've admitted to that specific fault before) except that you posted it for chapter 24, one of the only chapters where Talon and Lux ONLY interact with other people and not once with each other. Also, in the first 200 words of the chapter Quinn says "suspicions that'd been picking at her for weeks." So yes, I know that champion interaction still needs work, but I'm not sure it applies to the last chapter? Thank you, though! I'm keeping it in mind for the future.**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- Aww, bb. It's the not sleeping bit that's the worst, which I'm sure you understand *^* Eh, home is just stressful. There was a suicide attempt in my immediate family recently and I've been struggling with depression myself for years now, and the stress of school and a family that doesn't get along just really gets to me sometimes. It helps a lot that you care, so thank you ;-;**_

 _ **He's getting his shit together, no worries. I CAN'T TELL YOU, SORRY.**_

 _ **Anthropomancy- Ahh, if you want context you'll have to read the reviews for yourself lol. It takes a while to type out responses, and it's hard to recap most of the reviews. Thank you!**_

 _ **iFireLightning- ooooh yay c: I definitely love you, and thank you! I'd pm you but I am honest to god LITERAL garbage and I can never keep up with conversations or PM's or anything for too long. But really, thank you so much. It means a lot to me.**_

 _ **Antonio - a Fanfiction Reader- I'm assuming you didn't mean for your review to come off as rude, but… Oh boy. I've said more than once that updates are going to be longer than you guys expect as a courtesy- I don't have to say anything, or provide any kind of warning. I just thought it would be nice to let my readers know to expect a lag in updates. And if me not finishing the fic makes me a teen/not a real writer, then so be it? I've said multiple times that I was going to finish the fic, but if I ever thought I would be better off or that it would be better for my mental health to stop, then I would. I love and appreciate all of my readers but this fic is not my priority in life lol. Again, I assume you weren't trying to be rude, but you really need to think about what you write before you post it.**_

 _ **Talon x Lux FTW- :3**_

 _ **JeffTheKiller- Aww, thanks so much! I was excited to write more, and thank you for the well-wishes ^-^**_

 _ **Met-a-mawr-fuh-sis- Same? Though? SAME?**_

 _ **Haylex213- THANK YOU ;-; That's definitely the goal here! I'm honestly baffled that this fic has the support is does already. Aha, another person against Ezreal! My master plan continues to unfold. Seriously, thank you so much! This review was wonderfully kind and so nice to read, and I really appreciate it!**_


	26. Chapter 26

_**A/N: Chapter;;; of;;;; semicolons;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;**_

 _ **By 'letting you guys stew' I initially meant for like… a couple hours? I really meant to have this chapter up the same night as the last, but I was pretty disappointed with my writing last chapter and wanted to pick over this one a bit more. It's also almost 13k words by itself and it was a nightmare to edit.**_

 _ **ALSO, I'm beta reading a fic by Wintterzz called Blood in the Sand. It's all Shurima goodness, and I'd appreciate it if you checked it out ^-^**_

* * *

He didn't know how long it was until someone came to see him.

Hours, it felt like, Talon had been kept alone in the dark, his prison being especially quiet and bone-chillingly cold. There was a heavy chain wrapped around his ankle that was attached to the wall of his cell, but he wasn't going anywhere; the Demacians had done nothing about the arrow in his leg, and they'd certainly not tended to the bruised rib.

In fact, Talon was boasting more than one _broken_ rib now, and the left side of his face throbbed from where one of the guards had hit him.

All in all, Talon was inclined to think he got off a little easy; once word had gotten around that this was Talon Du Couteau they'd captured, part of the family that used to boast of the Demacians fallen to their blades, the guards treatment of him had become significantly less than… hospitable. Still, he was a champion and a prisoner, and it was law that he was kept alive.

For now.

Talon wasn't delusional- he wasn't sure what kind of protection being a champion offered, but he knew that it didn't apply if it looked like he had blatantly broken Demacian and Institute law. Since everyone was under the assumption that the body in the woods had been his doing and there was no proof to the contrary, there was really only one way this imprisonment would eventually end.

He had to admit, this was not the way he thought he was going to die.

The thought didn't seem to sink in, even though he was left bleeding in a Demacian cell with a murder on his head; he just sat there until his cell door swung open hours into the night, blinking rapidly when someone flicked a light on.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust, and when they did Talon was initially confused to see only two people; one burly guard with a disgusted snarl on his face, of course aimed at him, and one man in an absurdly neat suit with silver hair and a silver beard that eyed him with nothing more than curiosity. His eyes crawled slowly over Talon and the way he was slumped against the wall of his cell, and the tiniest of frowns dragged down his brow.

"I expected… more."

Talon would have smiled at that, if he could. The silver haired man shrugged, and crossed his arms; he didn't seem too upset that Talon hadn't met all of his expectations, and casually carried on his conversation as if he'd received a response.

"You certainly picked an interesting target this time. There are a few people I'm sure are going to be particularly upset with you."

Talon's only answer was to spit the blood that had been pooling in his mouth at the man's feet, which for some reason made a twisted smile curve his lips. He idly tugged one of the sleeves of his suit jacket in place as if he had no better place in the world to be, never looking away from Talon's battered face and never dropping that disturbing smile.

"Interesting, indeed. She was rather important- or don't you already know that? I'm sure that was your intention."

That smile widened, cruel and amused, and Talon couldn't help but feel the first flickers of nervousness; he had no idea who that woman was, but from the way the man was speaking…

"Killing a Crownguard- now that's an _excellent_ way to start a war."

* * *

After a week of sleeplessness, Lux was understandably very annoyed when she was woken up at an incredibly unreasonable hour after _finally_ falling asleep.

And it wasn't gently, either; someone was roughly shaking her arm, ripping away her blanket, and Lux's bleary eyes snapped open as she prepared to give whoever it was a very nasty mouthful of reasons why they _shouldn't be waking her up._

"Lux, wake up! Wake up _now!"_

The desperation in Quinn's voice was lost on Lux at first, but her tired thoughts quickly caught up; Quinn turned on her tiny bedside lamp, and after Lux's eyes briefly alighted on her alarm clock (just past midnight) they went immediately to Quinn's face. Her best friend's eyes were wide with panic for reasons Lux couldn't see, and she forgot her momentary annoyance when she realized that the fear on Quinn's face was entirely too real.

"What's going on?" she asked, her annoyance dissipating beneath trepidation.

Quinn opened her mouth, fully prepared to launch into whatever was bothering her, but she looked like she was about to fall over and her face was flushed and she'd hardly taken a breath since arriving. It was disturbing to see Quinn so shaken, and Lux couldn't remember a time she ever had before.

"Quinn, you need to sit down," Lux instructed, and it was an amazing feat that she kept her budding worry out of her tone.

She sat up and gently guided Quinn to sit next to her, running a soothing hand over her back while she spoke softly.

"Just breathe."

Quinn hardly even listened; she took one deep, shuddering breath, but rapidly shook her head.

"We don't have time."

Another ragged breath, and Lux frowned.

"Time for what?"

This time, the look in Quinn's eyes chilled Lux like nothing ever had, and a hundred terrible things, a hundred terrible scenarios, ran through her mind. Did something happen to her, or Valor? To Garen? To…?

"Talon was captured," she said, that one little whisper enough to make Lux freeze, to turn her blood to ice. "They think he killed someone and he's with Maddick now and Lux, they're going to execute him. They're not going to wait to ask the League if they're even allowed."

Of all the things that Lux imagined in the second before Quinn spoke, this was not one of them; she couldn't really feel her lungs inflating anymore, wasn't even sure if they were, but she felt like not being able to breathe made it a lot easier not to panic.

But she still didn't understand.

Slowly her hand fell from Quinn's back, and Lux held both of them up now like she was beckoning to Quinn to slow down or stop speaking, neither of which she was doing anymore.

"Wait, wait," Lux said, words sticking together, falling out in a rush. "Talon is here? In Demacia?"

Put together in that order, the words just didn't make sense to her, even if she was the one who said them. Why on earth would Talon be in Demacia?

As confused as Lux felt, Quinn looked incredulous; from the way she was looking at her, Quinn must have thought Lux was insane.

"What do you- of course he is! You asked him to come here!"

She was angry now, as well as panicked, but that didn't seem to penetrate the fog that enveloped Lux's brain; she just frowned, a slow puckering of her brow, but there was the edge of something cold beneath her skin, something sickening and rotten, and she leaned away from Quinn like it was her proximity to the words that Quinn spoke that made them so terrible.

"What are you talking about?"

And now the confusion was spreading to Quinn; uncertainty swept across her features, wiping away the anger but doing nothing to ease the urgency that gripped her.

"Your letter," she said almost slowly, hesitation lacing every syllable. Her voice was clear and even, it did not shake and she did not mumble and Lux heard every word, but not for one moment did any of it make sense.

"What letter?"

That creeping something twisted beneath Lux's skin when a bewildered Quinn promptly reached into her coat, producing one dirty and sadly wrinkled letter. She offered it to Lux, who considered not touching the foul thing, but she took it in hands that did not feel and opened it and her heart was pounding and it was a hundred times worse than anything she could have imagined.

Such a short letter, written in her hand with her words to Talon. Signed by her.

"I didn't write this," Lux whispered, and it hit her all at once; the numbness was pushed painfully aside by a jagged spike of raw fear, not only for Talon, who was captured, but by what this letter from no one meant. Someone perfectly and expertly forged her handwriting, her signature, and lured Talon to Demacia where he was… what? Framed for a murder?

"Quinn, I didn't write this," Lux repeated, hoping that if she said it one more time that something might just click.

Her voice was hollow and shaking and repeating it only made things worse; Quinn got to her feet, pacing agitated lines across Lux's bedroom while Lux sat there, frozen, feeling as if she was on the verge of shattering.

He was captured.

Quinn mumbled something she didn't catch, but she didn't repeat herself and Lux couldn't gather the wherewithal to ask her to say it again; she stopped in front of Lux, crouching down so that their faces were level, and spoke slowly so that there was no chance she could be misheard.

"Something is wrong, Lux. He didn't kill that woman."

Lux latched onto this, her thirst to know being a much better alternative to her wild, unsettled thoughts.

"How do you know?"

Quinn pursed her lips, but she never looked away from Lux, and it was her steadiness that kept her world from falling apart.

"I was the one that found him. It didn't feel right, Lux, and if you didn't write that letter then something much bigger is going on here."

Everything felt wrong, everything felt upside down and confused, and the only thing Lux knew for sure was that someone baited Talon into a trap that only she could have set. Because the only people that knew about their relationship, about their fight and the assignment… was them.

Or so Lux thought.

"Why didn't he run?"

Talon wasn't dumb; if Quinn knew something was wrong, then Talon must have too, and it made no sense to Lux that he was captured. He never got caught- it was his job not to. Talon didn't make mistakes.

Quinn looked away, just the slightest bit off to the side, and guilt flashed briefly across her features.

"He was injured."

It was like every new thing that Quinn had to offer made Lux's heart throb, and her breath caught in her throat and more scenarios, each one worse than the last, raced through her mind.

Injured, captured, executed-

Seeing the look on Lux's ashen face had Quinn quickly backtracking; she placed a hand on Lux's shoulder, squeezing until the blonde returned her scattered attention and wide eyes to her.

"Not badly- he just couldn't outrun the patrols. He'll be fine, Lux," Quinn soothed, although the effect was tarnished by the fact that she couldn't just calmly speak away the knotted mess they were in. Even mess seemed like a euphemism to Lux- horrible nightmare seemed a little more appropriate.

She half expected to wake up any moment with a scream on her lips, ready to shake off just another nightmare in a long line of many. She would have welcomed that, actually- chronic nightmares were preferable to this living horror.

But sitting there and wishing it all wasn't real wasn't going to help Talon; she'd have to go see Maddick, convince him that there was no way the King would allow him to execute Talon with no trial, no evidence, with no permission from the League- he just couldn't. It couldn't happen.

So Lux stood, grabbing something warm to wear and not caring what it was, dressing in a flurry of agitated movement, then grabbing her baton and heading for the apartment door. Quinn was there, shadowing her movements, and Lux was aware that she was trying to get her attention; she just couldn't care, not when she had to leave, not when she had to find Talon before things were far, far too late.

But Quinn stopped her before she could leave the apartment, grabbing Lux's arm none too gently and forcefully keeping her still. Lux tried to jerk her arm out of her grasp, but Quinn was insistent.

"Lux, listen to me. There's something you need to know."

Again, there was a snap in Quinn's voice that was never there before, surprising Lux just as much now as it had minutes ago, and that was what finally cut through her urgency; Lux paused, very impatiently waiting for what Quinn thought was so important to impart on her.

Quinn didn't meet her eye, and the grip on her arm grew slack; if Lux was comforted by anything, it was that things really couldn't get much worse than they were already.

"The woman they found…"

A pause where Quinn still did not look at her and shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"It was Lilia."

Silence.

It should have been a shock to her; Lux should have gasped, raged, maybe denied it, but this particular bit of information slid off her, did not affect her in the way Quinn thought it would. Lilia, her mother- the one who'd offered her up when she was hardly a child, with not one second thought or a moment's hesitation. The mother who allowed Maddick to kidnap her and force her into a decade of servitude, far behind enemy lines. The mother who had inadvertently put her right into the hands of Desrosiers and other monsters just like him, who'd forced her to experience so much pain and loss and terrible, terrible loneliness, who allowed Lux to be beat down again and again until she was a subservient soldier bent to the will of other people and with no say in what she did and what she felt for so long.

She was no mother of hers.

"Good," Lux said, voice scarily flat and unfeeling.

Sadness tugged down Quinn's features now, stealing all the warmth that she usually exuded. Lux felt a distinct flash of guilt for inadvertently bringing Quinn into the messier intricacies of the life she tried to keep hidden from her, and something occurred to her belatedly.

"Why are you doing this?"

She didn't say it unkindly, but with wonder; Quinn harbored a deeply personal reason to dislike and mistrust Noxians, and she had more cause to hate them than most people. Quinn had no obligation to help Talon, or to trust him. She could have easily just let him sit in that prison until he was executed and Lux would not have been surprised, not for one moment.

Quinn pursed her lips, sourness narrowing her eyes, and she spoked with stilted words that hinted she wasn't doing this because she wanted to.

"Do you trust him?"

The answer was on Lux's tongue and falling from her lips without one thought of consideration.

"Yes."

And Quinn nodded, no happier about it than before but certain that Lux understood.

"That's why. I'm doing this for you."

Because they would do anything for each other.

Lux quickly folded Quinn into a rare hug, squeezing her best friend, her sister, with an uncharacteristic ardor, hoping to communicate with that simple expression alone just how much all this meant to her. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, Quinn might be able to tell how much Lux appreciated her and everything she'd done and all the judgement she didn't pass even when words failed her.

"Thank you, Quinn. Thank you."

* * *

There was only one place in Demacia that Talon could be.

It was too late to put him in a proper prison, so he would be detained overnight in the holding cells beneath Maddick's office. Lux ran the familiar path to the barracks, keeping a tight hold on her coat to keep it from flying off with one hand and clutching her baton with the other, ignoring the icy air that rasped down her throat and her pounding heart, thinking of nothing other than where she was going.

Or at least, trying to.

 _Lilia is dead!_

Lux didn't think this with loss or sadness, like most people would have, but with a sinking, consuming fear; Lilia was important, whether Lux thought so or not. Killing a Crownguard was damn near attacking the crown itself, and that's what this murder would be viewed as. Not only was Lilia one of the most influential people in Demacia, she was also the mother of two champions, and her death would be seen as many, many things, especially considering it was a Noxian champion who was accused of the murder. It would be, to Demacia, a bloody message, hand delivered by one of Noxus' best. It would be an outrage.

It would be an act of war.

This was the kind of thing that would shatter the fragile peace the Institute had painstakingly created; champions or not, League or not, Demacia would take Lilia's death as nothing less than a slap in the face.

Which meant Lux had to get Talon out of custody and far, far away from Demacia, because his death would be the first step in Demacia's quest for retribution.

She was at the barracks in what had to have been record time, running into the empty lobby and gasping for breath, expecting someone to be there and question why she was out so late. Lux was surprised to see that no one was around, but didn't hesitate; she immediately headed down the hallway to Maddick's office, noticing the glow of an open door and throwing any attempt at politeness away as she walked right in.

Lux was relieved to see that Maddick was at his desk, pouring over a small stack of papers and looking much too fancy for it being one in the morning. He looked up when Lux stormed in, nonplussed by her arrival and disheveled appearance; if anything, he almost looked like he was expecting her, and his genial smile made the already tight grip she had on her baton near painful.

"Lux, it's nice to-"

"Stop," Lux snapped, her threshold for small-talk nonexistent. "You can't detain a champion. He's not under your jurisdiction."

Lux actually had no idea if that was true or not; she was assuming that Maddick didn't either, that he was just as unsure as she was about how much protection the League offered and was preparing to err on the side of caution, but his expression (still so cheery and smug) didn't change one little bit.

"He is if he murders on Demacian territory. That is very much our jurisdiction."

Lux pursed her lips, feeling like she was barely containing a scream behind them. She could point out that he had no evidence, but she knew that didn't matter to anyone in Demacia; the fact that Talon was born in Noxus was evidence and reason enough alone to lop off his head, and arguing that point would only waste Lux's (and Talon's) time. She had to pick something else.

"You can't execute him- _that_ the League won't allow," she said, more confidence in her tone than before. This, at least, Lux was certain of; Talon was still a champion, and the League would want him alive. Maddick only shrugged, serenely folding his hands on his desk, and it was his calmness that had all of Lux's flimsy hope crashing down.

"We can, and we will. Do you think this is something the King is going to tolerate?"

Lux was desperate now; she had no authority to remove Talon herself and she couldn't stop Maddick or the King from deciding what to do with him. It was getting harder and harder to breathe the longer she stood there, and helplessness was seeping like ice water into her veins. Legally, there was nothing she could do.

"I want to see him," she breathed, the only thing she had left.

Maddick raised a curious brow, eyeing Lux with a great deal of suspicion this time. She was aware of how bad that request looked coming from her, but she was far past the point of caring.

"Every prisoner has a right to one visitor. That's the law," she reminded him.

This, Maddick couldn't dispute; he stood, keeping his face uncharacteristically smooth and vacant, and waved for Lux to follow him out of the office. She did so stiffly, lips still pursed, fear still coursing sickeningly through her. Lux's mind raced, trying desperately to think of what in the world she was going to do when she had no options left.

All this she thought in silence while Maddick took her through the complex, further away from his office and down one, two, three flights of stairs; down a hallway where a guard was stationed at the far end, that ended in a door Maddick unlocked with a key from his pocket and relocked after them; down another hallway that was lined on either side by empty cells with closed doors. Down, down this hallway to the very end, where he lingered outside of one bar-less door, but did not move to unlock it.

"Open it," Lux hissed.

But Maddick just smiled, a sickening curve of his lips that was nothing but venomous.

"No, I don't think I will."

Lux stood there, dumfounded, on the verge of screaming at him to open it again when he interrupted her.

"I want you to know that this is the place where murderers end up- behind bars and awaiting execution."

He pointed the ring of keys in his hand at the door, and slowly so that Lux could see, he deliberately pocketed them. Lux seethed, gripping her baton so tightly it hurt, but Maddick's next words chilled all of the fiery anger that coursed through her, and every letter was razor-edged and cutting.

"And this is where we put traitors, too," he continued, fury of his own flickering behind his usually benign eyes. There was disgust in that voice- disgust for her.

"I want you to keep that in mind, and I want you to go home. In the morning, you will go to Ionia like I told you to, and this murderer will be executed just like I said he would be. Do you understand?"

Lux understood it much too clearly, so much more than she wanted to, and she didn't have the strength to nod. She stood there, defiant anger still frozen on her face, but she knew there would be no getting inside the cell; with what he was insinuating, Lux was almost surprised she wasn't in a cell of her own. But, no, he couldn't do that; he still needed a slave, didn't he?

Maddick was not pleased with her silence- not pleased at all.

"Do you _understand,_ Lux?"

He took a step in her direction, a threat if there ever was one, but Lux didn't back down and she did not cower. She knew what he was implying and she knew what he was threatening her with, and she still grinned that poisonous smile right back at him.

"I understand."

And for the first time that night, Lux actually did understand at least _one_ part of the snarled mess that was her life.

She let Maddick lead her away from Talon's cell, aching to know that she was so close and still so far from seeing him, but she did it with complete complacency; it was easy for Lux to keep up an angry façade as he escorted her out of the building with another thinly veiled threat that she better do what she's told or else, but beneath her fuming exterior Lux was cool and calculating, and calm almost to a fault.

Lux couldn't convince Maddick or the King that Talon couldn't be executed, and she wasn't allowed to see him, but there _was_ something she could do.

She returned to her apartment first, surprised to find that it was empty; she assumed that Quinn was being forced back on patrol, which was the most likely explanation since everyone would be on alert now that Talon was captured. They wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt, which meant that every available ranger was going to be on patrol tonight until the King addressed what happened in the morning.

Lux was glad that Quinn wasn't there, for once; her presence would only complicate things, and the last thing Lux wanted was for Quinn to get more involved than she was. She'd already done so much for her and Talon both, and Lux would never be able to thank her enough.

And for now, all Lux could do was wait.

* * *

There was something Lux knew about the barracks, something that only one other person did- Maddick.

She knew that in the event of a prisoner being brought in, there would only be one guard on duty until that prisoner needed to be moved. The guard she'd walked past with Maddick was stationed at the outside of the cell hallway, and would be changed every two hours. Lux knew that, because she was the one who made the schedule, years ago when she was pinned a bit more securely beneath Maddick's thumb. She knew exactly how long it took for the new guard to be put in place, and she knew exactly how long that doorway would be left unmanned, down to the second.

And so Lux waited, patiently biding her time, and returned to the barracks exactly when she needed to.

As soon as she was back outside the barracks, Lux tossed her baton over her head and hid herself from view; with the utmost care and silence she snuck back into the building, grateful that she had the cover of darkness to work with and that the barracks were near abandoned this time of night. She once again ascertained that the lobby was empty before continuing deeper inside, her slow steps careful and sure. She slowed to a crawl when she was passing by Maddick's office, because he was still there; he was signing in the new guard like she knew he would be, a man just as burly as the one that was on duty earlier. Heart jumping in her throat, Lux still crept forward, through thankfully darker hallways that kept the invisible spy hidden.

Lux wanted to go immediately to Talon, but there was somewhere she had to stop first; there was a room at the top of the stairs she would need to go down, a room with the door slightly ajar and one naked bulb still on inside. Lux carefully eased to door open enough for her to slip through, cringing when it let out shrill squeaks every inch; she paused, ears straining for the sound of someone coming to investigate, but the hallway stayed blissfully quiet, and she turned her attention back to the task at hand.

The room was more of a closet than anything, only a few paces deep and with walls lined with shelves. Most were empty, but there were a few dusty boxes and forgotten weapons placed on the highest shelves, rusted and covered in dirt, and there was also what she'd come for; it wasn't wrapped up or locked away like it should have been, but Talon's blade was perched on one of those shelves, managing to glint even in the near-nonexistent light. Lux gingerly and painstakingly carefully reached out to it, slightly dismayed to realize that it would not be simple to carry; it didn't have a hilt and it was all sharp edges, leaving Lux nothing to hold on to. Her only option was to slide her left hand through the leather straps beneath it, fixing it to her arm just like Talon would have. She hated the heaviness of it and the constant glare of the metal made her stomach flip, but she made sure it was properly affixed and quickly backed out of the room.

With the blade secured, she had only one thing left to do; she ran down the three flights of stairs until she was back in the hallway that Maddick had led her down earlier. Confident she was alone, she sprinted down this hallway, boots thudding across the tile and making quiet noises that echoed in the emptiness. It seemed thunderous to her sensitive ears, but Lux had gone too far to stop and she was beyond confident that no one would be around to hear it. There was no guard at the end of the hallway, like she knew there wouldn't be, and Lux paused in front of one of the last doors separating her from Talon.

Working with seconds to spare, Lux tucked her baton under her bladed arm and placed her now-free hand over the keyhole of the door, concentrating as much as her frantic mind could be forced to; there was a brief flash of light that would have been blinding to anyone else, the smell of melted metal, and that telltale thrum of warmth and energy under her skin when she used her magic. When Lux retracted her hand and shoved the door, it opened.

Quickly she closed it behind herself, quietly, and she turned around in the hallway that was pitch black. The darkness was the smothering, suffocating kind, and Lux could almost hear her breathing get impossibly ragged in the near-stillness.

Releasing her stealth, Lux twirled her baton and cast a tiny, twisting orb of light that hung close to the ceiling, emitting just enough light for her to see by. She moved quickly to the end of the hall, until she was standing at that last door with hands that shook and lungs that still could not catch a breath. She lifted her hand to the keyhole, fingers flexing, and for the first time since coming back to the barracks, Lux hesitated.

There was no going back once she did this. It was all or nothing- give everything up to save Talon or leave him to die.

And just like when Quinn asked her if she trusted Talon, that brief and almost nonexistent stutter was all there was before Lux repeated what she'd done before; a little surge of magic, a little flash of light, and the door gave way just like the last.

Lux eased this door open a little bit slower, counting down the minutes she had left in her mind while she waited for her eyes to adjust. The cell was as unbelievably dark as the hallway was before she showed up, but when she opened the door as wide as it could go her little orb cast slanted rays of light inside, which proved to be just enough for Lux to see by.

Although she almost wished it wasn't.

Lux wouldn't have guessed that the slumped form against the far wall of the cell was Talon if she didn't already know it was; he always had horrible posture when he was sitting, but this seemed broken somehow, crumpled, and there was something terrible about seeing someone who was always so strong and proud brought so low. Lux realized she was holding her breath when her lungs insistently screamed at her to breathe, and she obliged, letting stale air flow through her and crossing those last few paces to where Talon was sitting. She crouched beside him, lifting hands she was almost too nervous to put on him.

He didn't move; she waited for some reaction to the noise or the light or her presence, but Talon was scarily still, and Lux could feel every painful thump of her heart as she set down her baton and reached out a shaking hand to grab his shoulder.

"Talon!" she hissed, her whispered plea cutting through the silence. Her grip on his shoulder could have been painful, but that didn't occur to her; she couldn't be too late, she just couldn't, she was _there-_

Gratefully, amazingly, he shifted; her relief was staggering when he lifted his head, the dark gaze beneath his cowl uneasily meeting hers. His eyes were too dull to be surprised, too bleary to be happy, and now that Lux was looking she noticed the blooming darkness of a bruise spreading from beneath his left eye to the corner of his mouth, and his lip was split and there was dried blood on his skin and she knew he was hurt, Quinn told her, but it was so much more horrible to see it than to imagine it.

And Lux was murderously furious, a dangerous combination when mixed with the sickening fear that still gripped her.

"You shouldn't be here."

It took Lux a second to register the words; Talon's voice was raspy and dry, but surprisingly even, and Lux narrowed her eyes. She didn't have time for this- neither of them did. He was still mad, still didn't want to see her even though she was his only hope of getting free, but Lux wasn't going to let him die because he was stubborn.

"Get up," she ordered, voice flat and demanding. Lux wasn't surprised when he didn't move; his eyes slid away from hers, and he drew a breath that rattled in a sickening way. Lux's stomach flipped and she was finding it difficult to breathe again, but she couldn't afford to lose it; they would both die if she couldn't hold herself together.

"I'm not asking, Talon! Get up!"

And it wasn't angry, the way she snapped it, but desperate; her voice was on the edge of begging, and all the fear she'd been harboring was leaking, slipping beneath what little control she had.

Another uneven sigh from Talon, another painful throb of her heart.

"I can't."

There was the scrape of metal on concrete as Talon shifted his leg beside her, and Lux saw what she hadn't initially; one of his legs was enclosed in a thick and rusted chain, and now that Lux was looking, she noticed that there was a ragged strip of cloth tied around his upper leg, and the clothing beneath it was suspiciously dark. When she leaned closer to examine it, her hunch proved correct; drying blood soaked the dark blue of his pants and turned it black, and a fresh, creeping dread joined every other feeling that was close to tearing Lux apart.

"Okay," she said slowly, more to herself than anything. Her voice wasn't steady and it did nothing to ease her fear or worry, but she repeated it anyway.

"Okay."

She forced herself to breathe, just little inhales and exhales, and she set her baton aside so that she could better arrange the chain. She gently repositioned his leg and flinched in tandem with him when the movement caused him pain, but she found the little keyhole she was looking for; again she placed her palm over it, pausing this time to offer a warning.

"Close your eyes," she instructed, and after making sure that he complied, Lux released that little burst of magic that would free him. When she pulled on the chain this time it came free, and she tossed it into a corner of the cell where it collided loudly with the floor. All during this she'd kept a running counter of the time she had left, and considering it was running dangerously low, Lux became much more urgent than before.

"Can you stand if I help you?"

Talon offered a grunt which Lux took as an affirmation, and she crawled over to his left side and allowed him to drape his arm over her shoulder. She could tell he had more injuries than she could see by the halted, excruciatingly slow way he moved, but he didn't complain and she didn't have the time to coddle him. She grabbed her baton off the floor with the hand still strapped to Talon's blade, made sure she had a good grip on Talon himself, and braced herself to stand.

"Ready?"

Another grunt, and Lux struggled to stand, struggled to lift Talon's mostly dead weight. He sucked in a breath as they were standing but still he said nothing, and when he eventually got to his feet he seemed more capable of carrying his own weight, which thankfully relieved a lot of the burden on Lux. Still, though, she remained a constant support under his arm, trying to ignore that he was having a hard time catching his breath and that he was struggling to stand on his right leg.

It would be a miracle if he made it out of the cell, let alone the barracks, something Lux was trying very desperately not to think about.

Ignoring the doubt and dread that threatened to break her, Lux positioned herself more comfortably beneath Talon's arm and renewed her grip on her baton, and nodded her chin to the door.

"Let's go."

The first step was agonizingly slow, but the second was better, and by the time the pair reached the door of the cell Lux had set a steady pace for them both. Talon was trying to conceal an obvious limp and his uneven breaths were constantly brushing the side of Lux's face, but he showed no signs of needing to stop or go slower, and Lux couldn't afford to do either; she'd planned this entire heist down to the last second, and they were nearing the last of those precious moments.

It was an incredible relief to her when they struggled their way out of the cell, and Lux didn't bother closing the door behind them; the hallway stretched out before them, long and daunting, and worry made Lux's throat dry because they still had so much farther to go.

Surprisingly, Talon seemed less worried about it than Lux was; neither of them said anything (or had the energy to), but his pace grew a lot more steady and much swifter than before, like he'd found a rhythm even through the pain. Lux shot him dozens of quick little glances as they walked, but he kept his eyes forward and his lips pressed closed and the shifting light of Lux's little orb made the damage to his face seem garish, and she stopped looking because she couldn't deal with the guilt right then, not when she needed to focus.

She led them right up to the door at the end of the hallway, and this is where Lux paused; she ducked out from underneath Talon's arm and let him lean against the wall, allowed to him to catch his breath while she quickly explained what they had to do.

"The guard outside of this door just started his shift," Lux whispered, and even though time was of the essence and she didn't have the luxury of noticing such things, the flick of Talon's eyes to her face made her skin flush, and she averted her gaze.

"I need you to knock him out."

Silence stretched out after that request, long enough that Lux felt the need to glance up again. She didn't look away this time, even though Talon was still laser focused on her face, and she was mildly surprised that he didn't question what she said or offer some alternative; he just looked like she asked him a huge favor that majorly inconvenienced him, and that he was going to say yes even though he didn't want to. He jerked his chin at Lux's left arm, which she remembered was still strapped to his blade.

"That's mine."

He held out his arm expectantly, and if Lux wasn't still half convinced that she was trapped in a nightmare and if she wasn't so close to snapping from the pressure, she might have seriously considered slapping him for making what she was sure was a horribly tasteless joke in the most inappropriate situation she could possibly imagine.

But as it was, she said nothing as she unstrapped the heavy blade and carefully handed it back to Talon with a great deal of relief; she waited none too patiently while he expertly fit it back onto his arm, and when he was finished Lux was already starting to get antsy.

"Can you?" she prompted, very much in need of an answer before she opened the door.

He pursed his lips and Lux saw him open and close his fingers a few times, as if he wasn't sure he could rely on them, but he nodded and didn't say anything else. Lux would take that as an entirely compliant affirmation, and she didn't have the time to question it.

Talon pushed away from the wall and moved to stand next to Lux, somewhat in front of her so that when she opened the door, he would be ready; Lux moved her baton to her free left hand and put her right on the handle of the door, getting a good grip and looking up at Talon one last time. His previously dull gaze was fully alert now, and when he nodded, Lux jerked the door open in a quick flash of movement.

As fast as Lux had been, Talon (even injured) put her to shame; he took a step out of the door before the guard even noticed it was open, striking out with his arm so that the flat of his blade connected with the side of the man's head. There was a sickening crack and he immediately dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap of navy and gold, and although the movement had seemed effortless at first, when Talon was sure the man wasn't getting back up he slumped in on himself again, letting his arm dangle and wincing when the next breath he drew was painfully deep. Lux was frozen, still surprised at how quickly Talon had moved, but the concern and question on her face was evident. His right hand hovered over the left side of his chest, although he was excruciatingly careful not to actually touch it, and his face screwed up in a grimace.

"Broken ribs," he almost gasped, and it suddenly made a lot more sense to Lux why Talon was having such a difficult time moving- or breathing, for that matter. Again her anger flared, but it was quickly chased down by guilt and finally pushed away by her need to be in motion, her desperation to be somewhere safer.

Lux had initially planned on getting Talon to help her move the guard, but he still hadn't caught his breath and the last thing she wanted to do was push him too hard and injure him further; unfortunately for Lux, the man was small by no means, and she wasted so many precious seconds struggling to push him back the way they'd come. She muttered a few choice curses under her breath as she dropped to her knees and _shoved,_ but it still took way too long for her to finally push the guard past the door, and by the time she'd accomplished that Lux was just as out of breath as Talon was.

Lux closed the door with the scrape of rusted hinges, ignoring the eyes she could feel tracking every movement, no matter how miniscule; when she lifted her hand to the door this time, she laid her palm over the spot it connected to the wall. After that small flash of light and the acrid smell of melting metal, Lux was satisfied that the door would be stuck shut, and would keep the guard on the other side until the next shift change.

At least, that was what Lux was counting on.

She gave the door a tug and it didn't open, so she was satisfied enough to move on; it was a slight consolation to her that at this point, they'd be able to continue under the cloak of Lux's magic and in relative safety. She didn't have to say anything to Talon to explain her motives when she walked over to him, because he immediately allowed her to shift underneath his arm again and resume her role of support; the jab to the guard seemed to take up a lot of his meager energy, but after Lux tossed her baton in the air and shrouded them both in magic, he fell into their earlier pace without complaint. Lux was still anxious, still desperate to be anywhere other than where she was, but she did feel marginally better with the cover her baton offered, and it helped that Talon seemed more eager to move now than before.

They half-limped, half-walked their way down the hallway, and struggled up the three flights of stairs; once or twice Talon staggered or made a pained noise through gritted teeth, and every time Lux paused and looked to him with her heart pounding away and concern on her face and guilt eating away at every inch of her.

Whether the letter was hers or not, Lux knew that this, what happened to Talon, was her fault.

And even though she had so many other things to worry about and so much to concentrate on, that thought picked at her the entire journey out of the barracks, and she felt every sound of pain, every stutter in Talon's step, as if it were her own; she still had the presence of mind to be grateful that Maddick's office was empty and that the barracks were empty, like she assumed they would be, and when they made it outside Lux's relief was staggering.

But they weren't finished quite yet; they still had to walk back to Lux's apartment, which was the only place they had to go. That was why she was grateful Quinn wasn't there anymore- she wasn't sure what Quinn expected her to do about Talon being captured, but she ventured to guess that her best friend didn't think Lux would sneak into the barracks and break him out. Hell, _Lux_ didn't even know she was doing that until Maddick had threatened to lock her up right beside him.

And now she had Talon and there was no going back.

Demacia was blissfully quiet as Lux and the Noxian staggered through the darkened streets, and for maybe the hundredth time that night Lux was grateful she lived so close to the barracks; the walk seemed to drag on for forever because Talon moved so slowly and he was definitely not light, but Lux couldn't complain, not really. Talon was alive. The world was a confusing mess and on the brink of something terrible, but the night was quiet and still and deceptively calm, and _Talon was alive._

Not even an hour ago Lux thought he was lost; to have indisputable proof that he was there, to feel him beneath her hands and hear his voice and see his face again was a relief and a gift and everything she could have hoped for.

Talon didn't say a single thing during the walk, and the only noise he made was an unhappy groan when Lux led him up the flight of stairs to her apartment; he allowed her to lead him inside, following as she flicked on the lamp next to the couch. It was a difficult and slow-going process to get Talon situated on the couch, but when he was stretched out across the cushions he let out a short sigh that was half relieved and half painful, and he sank into the pillows and let his left arm sag to the floor, then draped his bladed arm over the top of the couch. He didn't say anything as he let his eyes slide shut, just sat very still and breathed in small, shallow breaths that didn't sound right to Lux.

Lux hesitated at first, unsure of what to do, but berated herself for not moving; she went to her kitchen first, filling a glass with water and rooting around in her tiny freezer for a handful of ice. She wrapped a towel around the ice and then returned to Talon, who was now carefully watching what she was doing. She held out the water first, which he immediately accepted; she felt the need to caution him against downing the whole thing as fast as he could, but he was finished with the glass before she could work up to speaking. Taking the now-empty glass, Lux replaced it with the ice, and he gingerly placed the towel against the swollen skin of his face as he leaned back against the couch.

He seemed comfortable to lapse back into silence, but Lux wasn't; there was a lot less hesitation this time, and her voice sounded surprisingly steady.

"I need to do something about your leg," she said, earning another heavy-lidded glance. "And your ribs."

She was less concerned about his ribs and more afraid that his leg was going to get infected if she didn't clean it, but broken ribs were a constant and sharp pain, and setting them would make it easier for him to breathe. He looked like he was going to comply at first, but he resumed his restful position and closed his eyes again.

"I'm fine."

Except Lux wasn't having it; she didn't say anything at first, just walked into her room and into her little bathroom, retrieving the first-aid kit she kept under the sink. It had seen hardly any use and probably wouldn't have the things she needed to properly treat Talon, but they didn't have the luxury of proper medical care. She walked back to the couch, biting back annoyance when Talon purposely didn't move, and she couldn't keep the frustration out of her voice.

"Sit up."

His eyes flicked open to stare, but he still didn't move.

"I'm trying to help," Lux explained, and even though she tried to keep the demanding edge in her voice, she thought her desperation leaked a little too much into her tone. She _had_ to help him; she had to do something to help fix the mess she'd made.

"And you're getting blood on my couch."

He was, actually, but Lux couldn't care less. The pathetic attempt at a joke was ineffective at covering the guilt eating its way through her composure, but it had the desired effect; his face pinched in discomfort, Talon eased his way into a sitting position, leaning against the back of the couch while Lux looked on. She wasn't sure what to do first; the wound on his leg wasn't bleeding anymore but needed to be cleaned, but it would be easier for her to wrap his ribs first. It would also lessen his discomfort, if by a small margin.

"Take that off," she said, pointing to the blade on his arm, and then shifted her attention to his cowl. "And the hood."

Wordlessly he complied, undoing the leather straps to his blade and laying it on the floor at his feet. It was slower going when he set to removing his cloak, but Lux couldn't force herself to reach out to help, and she doubted Talon would want her to, anyway. He removed that and the coat underneath, until only a long-sleeved shirt was left; Lux carefully took a seat on the couch by his left side, reaching out with tentative fingers to grasp the hem of his shirt. She carefully rolled it upwards without a word from either of them, and as more skin came into view, the harder and harder Lux bit her lip.

There was a wide swath of skin covered in a maroon bruise, stretching across an alarming amount of the side of Talon's chest; she leaned around him to his other side, but the skin there was bruise-free, and the injury seemed contained his left ribs. Still keeping his shirt lifted with one hand, Lux ever so gently placed two of her fingers against the swollen skin, ignoring his answering flinch as she expertly felt for a break.

"They're cracked, not broken," she murmured, dropping that hand to open the first aid kit in her lap. It would be difficult for her to know for sure without an x-ray, but Lux was almost certain the injury wasn't as serious as the bruise made it look. Lux didn't have anything for the pain and the only useful thing in the first-aid kit for the ribs was a small roll of material intended for wrapping smaller injuries. Because her options were limited, Lux picked up the roll, pressing one end of it to the right side of Talon's chest with a feather light touch.

"Lean forward."

Talon did, and he patiently waited while Lux set to wrapping his ribs. Once or twice she would ask him to move his arm or turn so that it was easier for her to work, but it was mostly quiet, save for the occasional rustle of gauze and the rough whisper of Talon's breathing.

Wrapping the ribs was a slow and repetitive task, which gave Lux plenty of time to think; it was almost easy to forget whose skin was beneath her fingers when she was working, but every couple of seconds she would look up to catch Talon staring, and she'd go back to looking only at what she was doing with flushed skin and a stutter to her heartbeat.

Not that the circumstances were favorable, but she was glad he was there.

She knew it wasn't the same for him, that he was only there because of the fake letter and because Lux was his only way out of imprisonment, but Lux had been convinced that she would never speak to Talon again; she itched to ask him about the letter and about why he'd come to Demacia at all, but the fear that he still didn't want anything to do with her kept her mouth shut.

She was finished quickly with the wrapping, and she tugged Talon's shirt back into place when she was done. Now, she turned her attention to his leg; she switched places on the couch, eyeing the dried patch of blood on his clothes with pursed lips. Carefully she untied the bloody strip of cloth, and without her having to ask this time Talon wordlessly tugged the leg of his pants down far enough for Lux to see the wound for herself. It wasn't as bad as her fears assured her it would be; it needed to be cleaned and the dried blood around it made it seem dire, but the puncture wound was neat for the most part and off to the side of his leg, so it hadn't nicked anything important. Lux retrieved the things she would need to clean it from the first-aid kit, and as she began to gently dab away at the blood on his skin, her curiosity got the better of her.

"What happened?"

Most of the soldiers that would have been dispatched to retrieve Talon carried swords; in fact, the only person who would have been capable of producing such a wound was-

"Quinn shot me," came the answer, confirming that suspicion. Lux darted a glance upwards as she got a clean ball of cotton, but Talon wasn't looking at her. Quinn had said he was injured, but not that he was injured because _she_ shot him. Although Lux was annoyed that particular bit of information had been conveniently left out, she was almost relieved it was Quinn who found him; the shot to his leg was clearly not meant to be life-threatening, which Lux knew Quinn was more than capable of inflicting.

Now Lux wanted to ask about everything else; about how he'd gotten the letter and why he came to Demacia, and if anyone knew he was there and why. Words sat on the tip of her tongue, questions begged to be given a voice, but Lux said precious little.

"I didn't write that letter," she said quietly, so low that she wasn't sure Talon could hear her. She kept her eyes down so she couldn't see his expression, but he shifted slightly, just the tiniest movement that did nothing to disturb her work.

"I gathered that."

Lux still had no idea where the letter had come from and Talon didn't offer her any ideas, and as she once again picked up another fresh cotton ball, Lux spoke before her nerve failed her.

"But I _am_ sorry," she whispered, fingers pausing against his skin.

She didn't know what she expected; maybe he would tell her it still didn't matter if she was sorry, maybe he'd say that nothing had changed and he still didn't want anything to do with her and that he was only there because the letter had said there was something new with the case, but Talon was uneasily silent, and Lux resumed cleaning his leg.

But now that she'd started, she couldn't stop talking, and she'd had a week of misery to think of everything she wanted and wished she could say to him.

"I shouldn't have lied to you," she began, depositing the last dirty cotton ball into a pile on the floor. Keeping her eyes down made the apology easier, if only marginally, but Lux still felt like the words were sticking in her throat and coming out all wrong.

"I didn't think it mattered at first, when you first asked me if I'd spied on your family. I didn't know what we were doing, but… I don't know. I didn't think it would last."

And she didn't; her covert meetings with Talon in the library and the training room, at first, had been a distraction to her; a chance to talk to someone who understood the things she had to say, who could objectively listen to her and did not belittle or judge her. All she knew back then was that she needed those hours with Talon, and that if she lost them then the Institute would be no better to her than Demacia was.

"And then…"

And then things got complicated, because Talon wasn't just a distraction, he was… more. He was her every thought, he was the person she curled up to at night and the first thing she saw in the morning, and he became so quickly tangled and essential to her life that Lux was terrified that he would cut himself out of it if she told him about the assignment.

"And with Riven, I was scared. I was scared you would tell me to leave and that I would find nothing, and that I'd give you hope I had no right to give. I didn't know what to do, but I know I shouldn't have lied."

Her fingers carefully pressed down the edges of a bandage to his leg, and when she was done she pulled her hands away and balled up the wrapping of the bandage in her palm while he set the half-melted ice on the floor and fixed his clothes. She felt like she was sitting too close to him, that she should move away and keep her mouth shut and leave him alone, but Lux steeled herself and looked up anyway. Blue eyes met gold just like they had hundreds of times before, but to Lux it felt like everything in Talon's steady gaze was prompting her to speak, and this time her voice was even and laden with meaning, heavy with every scrap of earnestness and remorse that Lux was capable of producing.

"I'm sorry," she professed, and those two small words rang with sincerity.

Both of them sat there, focused on nothing but the person in front of them; neither of them dropped their gazes and neither of them spoke, and Lux desperately searched Talon's face for something, for any hint that what she said affected him in any way. His mouth pressed into a line, his eyes narrowed, but Talon still didn't speak- not a word as to whether or not what she said meant anything to him at all.

And the longer that tense silence stretched on, the more Lux felt like she was shrinking beneath his gaze, and the more she felt like nothing she said was going to change anything. She didn't move, however; she sat as straight as she could, refusing to look away no matter how long it took him to answer. She might have had more to say, but nervousness stilled her tongue and it was taking most of her concentration to just _sit_ there calmly.

It felt like hours before there was any reaction from Talon; he must not have breathed since Lux started speaking, because he exhaled a blustery sigh that had to have hurt, and Lux watched, almost in a daze, as he lifted his right hand and slowly, carefully, laid it against her cheek. Even though his glove was rough and cold and she hated the pain he must have been in and everything was so wrong and so messed up, she felt lighter than she had in days. Lux couldn't help but lean into his hand, and she lifted her own to cover it, in disbelief that it was there at all.

"I thought it was you," he breathed. "When I got here, when I found your mother…"

Lux couldn't look away from the pain in his eyes even if she tried, and she felt it as if it were her own; she felt the same way when Quinn first found her, that Talon was lost and he was going to die and there would be nothing she could do and that everything was her fault. It was a terrible thing to think she wasn't going to see him again and to know that he was alive, but to think that she would lose him _forever…_

Inconceivable, that pain.

But he was _here,_ Talon was alive and she was alive and no matter how horrible everything was and was going to be, they were together and he didn't have to say anything else, because behind the fear in his eyes was the forgiveness Lux was asking for; the smallest gesture of the hand on her cheek spoke volumes and conveyed something that words never could.

"I'm sorry," Lux whispered again, voice choked, and she wasn't just apologizing for lying, but for everything; she was sorry for every little thing that led them to where they were now, every miniscule detail that caused either of them pain, whether it was her fault or not.

Carefully (and with clear hesitation), Lux wrapped her arms around Talon and buried her face in his neck, making sure she didn't accidentally brush anything that was bandaged. Talon, though, was a lot less mindful; he folded his arms around Lux without much thought to the pain it would cause him, and the embrace was smothering but not enough; it was everything Lux thought she'd never have again, and it was the warmth she knew and the comfort she loved and it was so familiar, and her heart ached when she realized it was real. She wasn't imagining that Talon had forgiven her, he really _had,_ and if the rest of the world had gone to hell and no longer made sense, at least this did; Talon was all she needed for things to be okay.

Everything else they would figure out together.

And even if Lux hated the terrible position they were caught in and she hated the pain Talon had to endure and she hated that life, for some reason, could not give her Talon without balancing the scales somehow, she'd never felt more grateful to have him in her arms. She dug her fingers into his shirt like she was clinging on for dear life and she breathed in the night air that clung to his skin and her chest was heavy with that feeling that usually came to her in moments like these, that happened so frequently at the Institute: the morning after her birthday, the afternoon when she told him about Desrosiers, that same night when she fell asleep with him like she always did but realized that it was different somehow; that she could easily spend every day waking up with him and every night falling asleep with him on her mind and in her bed, and that it would never matter to her what he'd done or where he was from or what obstacles they would face because she would always pick him, always choose him, no matter what happened. She wanted him, no matter what.

And she knew this, felt this, even the night that he said he never wanted to speak to her again; she picked him then, and she would pick him always.

It'd been on the tip of her tongue so many times, threatening to fall unbidden from her lips; it would have left her open and exposed and vulnerable, so she would smother and deny it again and again, but she could no longer pretend that that urge to speak, that urge to give life to that tightness in her chest and that hope in her veins, didn't exist; no longer did she want to pretend that she had nothing to say.

So Lux backed out of the embrace, just far enough so that she could meet Talon's eye and place her hands on the sides of his face. She took comfort, this time, in the encompassing gold of his gaze, and although fear and worry and insecurity had silenced her many times before, Lux was now filled with a confident boldness she'd never experienced.

"I love you," she declared, and there was not a single waver in her voice, not a single beat that she missed.

It was so _freeing_ to say; it felt like a weight had been lifted off of Lux's chest, and even though her heart was beating too fast and her breath felt too short it all felt so _right._ Lux wasn't taught to love and she didn't think she could ever trust someone enough to get to this point where she would willingly lay herself so bare, but there was nothing else for her to say right then; there was nothing else that would have been as perfect or true.

She was so happy to finally say it that it didn't even matter, at first, that Talon did nothing but sit there and stare at her like he couldn't believe she'd actually said those words, and the normally stern lines of his face softened into wonder; he quickly overcame that shock, however, placing a hand at the small of Lux's back so that he could easily pull her to him and back through the small space she'd created, so that he could press his lips to hers with a fervency that almost verged on painful. Their already short breaths came in gasps and Lux must have been on fire because her blood boiled and her skin was impossibly hot where it touched his, but she couldn't pull him any closer or hold him any tighter than she was already; it wasn't their cleanest kiss or their most passionate or even their best, but to Lux it was easily the most meaningful, and it was full of everything that she could have dared to hope for. Talon didn't have to say anything, because this kiss said it all; it was his answer and his agreement, and it was a promise to Lux that he picked her, too.

It was almost a physical pain when he pulled away, even though it was hardly an inch and he hadn't moved besides that; there was a moment for them to catch their breath, for Lux's grip on him to just grow that much tighter, for Talon to whisper back what Lux so badly wanted to hear.

"I love you, too."

It was a rough, breathless murmur, but also the sweetest thing Lux had ever heard; it made her forget everything that wasn't Talon and his lips brushing hers and his skin beneath her fingers and the hand on her back and the fact that he loved her, too. He knew everything about Lux; he knew all the terrible things she'd seen and done and every dark little shadow she casted, and still he gave this acceptance to her. Lux's lips curved into a wide smile and she could swear that his did the same, and she was so happy, despite everything, because there in their little bubble there was no letter, there was no treason or Demacia and Noxus, or anything else.

There was Lux, and there was Talon, and for a wonderful second that was all that existed.

But after that second the complacency ebbed away and the joy did too, and when Lux leaned back into Talon's embrace she clung to him like that one blissful moment was all they had left; she breathed in the scent of his skin and tried to memorize the indescribable feeling of being folded in his arms as if it was the last time she would experience it. She didn't think she was alone in this mindset, because Talon buried a hand in her hair and his fingers curled against her waist, and suddenly the touch felt desperate.

Love would only get them so far.

Lux could feel the fear she'd momentarily pushed away bubbling in her chest, shoving its way past her transient happiness and constricting her heart; her next breath was fluttery, verging on a sob, and to bite it back was almost painful. She'd gotten Talon out of the prison, but was it even a lasting solution? Neither of them had any idea who the letter was from or who'd murdered Lilia, and they were in no position to find out; Lux knew that it would only be a matter of hours before everyone found out Talon was missing, and it wouldn't take much long after to pin the blame on her. Talon couldn't run from Demacia without someone's help, and Lux couldn't because Maddick still expected her to be on a ship to Ionia that morning.

Lux's thoughts, always so quick, spun in dizzying circles that had no end, and she felt no closer to a solution than the first time she'd gone to the barracks.

The cycle of impending hopelessness was broken by the sound of the apartment door opening; Lux jerked out of Talon's arms, immediately reaching for her baton, but just as quickly realized that she was overreacting; for some reason she'd been expecting Maddick and soldiers, but it was only Quinn returning from patrol, red-faced and flustered.

Quinn did an amazing job of concealing her surprise, if she was in fact shocked at all; she stood alarmingly still in the doorway, face puckering when she saw who was sitting on the couch. Lux had the presence of mind to feel guilty, because as much as she didn't want Quinn involved in what was evident and high treason, it was hard to actually keep her out of it, especially when Quinn had been so instrumental in Talon's escape.

"You look better," she greeted sourly, pointedly looking at Talon and the arm he still had wrapped around Lux's waist.

She crossed the room to the little desk she had in the corner, and while her back was turned Talon shifted that arm, letting it fall away from Lux's hip and threading his fingers through hers instead. Quinn dragged her desk chair over to the couch, setting it down a comfortable distance away and slumping into it with a sigh; she was exhausted, that much Lux could tell, and fresh guilt ate away at her. An awkward blanket of silence fell over the trio, and none of them could find the words to break it; Quinn kept her narrowed eyes focused on Talon, Lux kept her worried gaze on Quinn, and Talon studiously avoided looking at anyone.

"I didn't think you were going to break him out."

Quinn, unsurprisingly, was the one who felt most comfortable moving beyond the smothering quiet; she looked to Lux now, her gaze half accusing and half weary. This was something that Lux didn't feel remorse for, and she didn't shrink beneath Quinn's stare like before.

"What else was I supposed to do?"

Her fingers curled a little more tightly around Talon's, and his did the same in response; she couldn't have left him, that much she knew, and no other alternative was making itself apparent to her.

"God, Lux, I don't know."

And Quinn, always so steady and calm and put together, dropped her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath. She didn't keep her face buried for long; she looked up after she'd regained some of her composure, and there was a lot less animosity in her eyes than before.

"You didn't write the letter," she said, pointing at Lux, who promptly shook her head.

"No."

"And you didn't kill Lilia."

She was focused on Talon now, who answered flatly.

"No."

Although this was information she already knew, Quinn leaned back in her chair like she was trying to make sense of brand new clues, chewing her lip like Lux did when she was stressed.

"It would have to be someone who knew about… this," Quinn said, vaguely waving her hand at Lux and Talon. That particular thought did almost nothing to help, because the only three people that knew about Lux and Talon being anything but enemies were sitting in the room.

"I'm assuming you didn't tell anyone," Quinn added, and her look almost dared Lux to contradict her.

"Of course not," Lux immediately said in her defense, although that wasn't entirely true.

"Well, Ezreal does," she acquiesced. "But I didn't tell him. He figured it out."

She hardly felt like it was worth mentioning; Ezreal, like Quinn, hated Noxians and had no problem showing his distaste for Talon, but he wouldn't knowingly out Lux, especially when it would lead to consequences this drastic. He also couldn't have so perfectly forged Lux's handwriting, and the last thing Ezreal would have ever wanted was a war on his hands. No, Lux didn't think that Ezreal had anything to do with it.

Quinn shook her head, thoughts in line with Lux's; she knew Ezreal well enough to know that he'd never endanger his friends because of something so personal.

"He wouldn't- you know that. Anyone else?" She asked, eyes flicking between them again. Lux promptly shook her head, but Talon was a lot slower to answer; in fact, after several seconds of silence, Lux glanced up at him, pressing her lips into a dangerously thin line.

There was a good reason he didn't meet that gaze.

"Kat knows."

There was a sigh from Quinn, and Lux couldn't bite back a flash of anger; she wasn't surprised, exactly, but she felt that it wasn't entirely Talon's secret to share, and to think that Kat knew about them for however long made her feel… violated, in a way. Talon was quick to jump to her defense, and his tone dared Quinn or Lux to argue.

"She didn't say anything."

And she had enough of her own reasons not to, Lux realized; she was assuming Kat wouldn't betray Talon so blatantly because they were siblings and he trusted her, but she also had her own relationship she was hiding, and to expose Talon would be to risk exposing herself. No, Lux didn't believe that Kat had anything to do with the predicament they were caught in.

Quinn clearly didn't trust Talon and obviously trusted Kat far less, but Lux was resolutely on Talon's side for this one; it didn't make any sense, either, why Kat would go through all the trouble to set such an elaborate trap to… what? Get Talon executed? Risk a war?

No, it definitely didn't make sense, which left them all right back where they started.

There was several minutes of brooding silence while they all wracked their brains, trying to piece together the messy, broken night into a picture that made sense, but they yielded nothing; the only thing Lux or Talon knew with certainty was that they couldn't stay in Demacia, and that it would be almost impossible to sneak Talon out.

Eventually Quinn leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees and frowning at the floor.

"You can't stay here, and it's not safe for you to return to the Institute, either. They'll execute Talon if they catch him again, and you'll be charged with treason."

Quinn sounded lost, her words hollow, and they made Lux feel empty and sick again; she leaned a little bit closer to Talon, gripped his hand a little bit tighter, trying to make use of his warmth and will life back into her skin.

If Quinn sounded this hopeless, then what could they do?

And Lux sat there, clinging to the man she loved and thinking of a million different things; she needed to keep Talon safe, but couldn't return to the Institute; she needed to keep up appearances to Maddick, but she couldn't leave Talon; she needed to figure out who sent that letter and why, but she could do nothing while treason hung over her head.

Minutes lapsed by, and still nothing was said; Quinn sunk lower into her chair, Talon shifted uncomfortably too many times for Lux to count, and all this time Lux's mind sifted through thoughts that seemed so much like puzzle pieces that could fit, but refused; it was like they were all the same shade of a blue sky, and if Lux could just find the first two to fit, then the whole picture would come together. One piece was Maddick, one was Talon, one was her one was the Institute one was a letter she didn't write…

And just like that, those first two pieces came together.

Lux sat up, the movement fast enough and disruptive enough in the quiet that it caught both Talon and Quinn's attention; she could feel their eyes on her, and although Lux's expression held no happiness, there was the faintest glimmer of hope on her face that only just dared to show. She looked from Talon to Quinn, and almost, _almost,_ allowed herself to smile.

"I have an idea."

* * *

 _ **A/N: They said the love thing, we can all go home now.**_

 _ **Reviews-**_

 _ **Lux Du Couteau- There's gotta be something on Deviantart for that.**_

 _ **Adonna2424- Oh god your reviews make me so sad, I just want you to be happy ;-; I'm SORRY**_

 _ **Mirae- Okay I played with someone the other day with your name and I said hi, and if it was you and you didn't say hi back I just want you to know I'm super offended.**_

 _ **(kidding)**_

 _ **YES he did! We'll just have to see, ey? Definitely more Quinn in the future! I think she makes an excellent sounding board for Talon and Lux. Oh gosh no offense taken lol. Kat, Talon, and Lux are like the epitome of fucked up, and Quinn and Garen are kind of just along for the ride. Thank you! I heart you guys c:**_

 _ **WhiteWinterDragon- Thank you ;-; I think I can safely say at this point without ruining anything that yes, it's Swain lol. I can't believe you guessed it was Lilia, no one else did. Thank you again ;-;**_

 _ **Kujjin- Awww. See, that's something I wish could happen. (Minus the injured part? Just cute. Lots of cute.)**_

 _ **Talon x Lux FTW- rip u**_

 _ **Imstillive- Hey you! Thank you c: Yeah he did and it's super uncool, but it happens to the best of us. (And the worst of us. Because Ezreal is the worst.) You have a good point there! Thank you again ;-; Ooooh I'm glad you liked it ;D Kaylightly is so talented.**_

 _ **Talon- You dun goofed pretty boy.**_

 _ **Ulcaasi- Yeah it was like… Idk if this is tmi, but after dealing with depression and suicide myself, it's really awful when someone else experiences it. It's just… rough. But getting better! I think. Hopefully. So thank you again c:**_

 _ **That is my master plan, haha! I hope this plot thing works out, gosh. That's exactly how I imagined Talon being arrested also. And we can go mountain climbing together! Because I love cliffhangers and there are so many more to come oh my gosh.**_

 _ **Guest- I can't tell if you mean "good" impossible, or more like "please stop you're embarrassing yourself" impossible. I hope the former.**_

 _ **J4YDE- I'm always trying/thinking about writing, so don't worry. You're welcome, and thank you!**_

 _ **iFireLightning- Cliffhangers are my THING man I can't stop. I will, thank you so much c:**_

 _ **Antonio- a Fanfiction Reader- I've read that review a lot more than 3 times, and you're right, the fic isn't my priority at all. The way you worded things appeared rude to me, and reading it again doesn't change that. Like I said, I was giving you the benefit of a doubt that you didn't mean to be rude, I was just asking you to be more mindful in the future.**_


End file.
